Percy Jackson and the Avengers
by ChrysSelene
Summary: Percy Jackson is living the dream. He has an amazing wife, world famous architect Annabeth Chase, waiting at home for him each night. Things are as normal as they can be (for a demigod) but that's all about to change when the world of "myths" collide with the world of playboy billionaires and the rest of the Avengers initiative.
1. That is not a normal fish

My day started out pretty normal. I usually sleep in pretty well, but Annabeth doesn't allow that. She knows how good I am at navigating the snooze button on my alarm, so she wakes me up with less conventional methods. Usually pancakes or kisses. Today was the later.

"Morning seaweed brain," Her voice was slightly horse from sleepiness and I opened my eyes so I could see her. Her blonde hair was messy, bed-head style, and beautiful as usual. She smiled and pecked me quickly on the lips then got up to get ready for work, advising me to do the same. I could have stayed in bed all day but sadly, I also had work. I know, Percy Jackson is actually working? Well believe it, cuz I actually have a job that I got on my own and totally not by letting Annabeth scare the guy into hiring me. I rolled out of bed and groaned. I could barely keep my eyes opened as I trudged to the bathroom. to get ready for the oncoming day.

(Time skip)

I was wide awake by the time I got to work. I had a job at the New York Aquarium _(A.N. I know, such a creative name!)_ and I loved it. Annabeth worked at the biggest architectural firm around and was a household name for anybody who paid attention to that kind of stuff. I strolled through the front doors of the aquarium, flashing my ID card at the security guard. The fish here have mostly gotten used to me, which is a good thing because they followed me around in their tanks for the first few months. I've been working here for two years now, and it almost seems too normal. I smiled to a few visitors as I made my way to the shark tank, the area I was assigned to today. I did the usual; teaching kids more about the sharks, telling idiot teenagers to back away from the glass, and repeatedly telling the same elderly couple that no, this was not the otter exhibit.

"Whoo Hoo! Bruce take a picture!" Somebody screamed, I turned around quickly to see what the commotion was. A familiar looking man was standing above the tank, where the employees went to feed the sharks and dangled his foot over the edge.

"Tony, I think you should get down from there," his friend advised. Dam right he should get down! Hee hee, dam.

"Dude!" I quickly climbed the stairs and pulled the man away from the ledge. Normally, I would have been a little less obey-the-rules-like, but he was scaring the sharks. "Man, what are you doing? This is restricted! You can't be here!" I know, ironic coming from me. I felt weird saying it; I felt like Annabeth. Gods, now I missed Annabeth.

"Nah, bro it's ok. Do you know who I am?" The man said casually. I gave him a look that told him I really didn't care.

"An idiot?" I guessed. The man with him chuckled approvingly.

"No, I'm Tony Stark."

Oh right, that guy. Annabeth told me about these guys. While we were saving the world (The second time) they were saving New York. Well, demigods were secretly doing most of the work for them, but at least they tried. If he's Tony Stark, then the man with him must have been one of the smart people on his team. Which ones are the smart ones? Dang, I really needed Annabeth.

"I'm so sorry about this, we'll be leaving right now-," Smarty-pants didn't get to finish his statement because Tony Stark fell into the tank. Styx.

My demigod instincts kicked in and I lunged forward, just in time to see his head slip under water. Usually, I would have just waited for him to resurface and yanked him out, but the dude sank. Like, actually sank. It was like he was made of metal! Wait, Annabeth said something about that... Yeah, I should probably get him out. I slipped off my walkie-talkie and cell phone (only for emergencies) and jumped into the water. It was cold and salty, but that didn't really bother me. I grabbed hold of Tony's arm and tried to swim upwards but he was too heavy. Gods, this dude weighs more than Juno! I looked around quickly; there were people staring at the tank with their cameras out and filming. So that was a no on a showage of powers then. I turned to the nearest shark, who was staring at me in fascination.

 _Help us up? I'll feed you extra!_

I reasoned with the great white. Apparently, that worked, because she suddenly swished her tail violently, sending a current fast enough to give me and my luggage a much-needed boost towards the surface. I made a quick decision and used my powers to get us the rest of the way to the top. I know it was a bad idea, but Tony Stark couldn't breathe under water; he needed to get to the surface, quickly. We broke the surface and I hauled Tony back onto the concrete slab from where he had fallen. He began gasped for breath and violently coughing.

"I warned you!" I immediately said. The smart guy glanced suspiciously at me. I avoided his gaze and grabbed my radio to call this in.

"How did you do that?" He asked, still staring at me.

"Uh, I'm just good at my job?" I squeaked. I reached for my phone, more than tempted to call Annabeth. I had a bad feeling about this.

"No, I saw what you did. That wasn't human,"


	2. I get into some dam trouble (Again)

Ok, so the smart guy was smarter than I originally thought. I thought I was being discrete! The man took a step forward and pulled a badge from his pocket.

"I'm Doctor Bruce Banner of Shield. Could you come with us to answer a few questions?" He worded it like a question, but I had a bad feeling it was more of a polite order. I quickly threw him a confused, lop-sided smile,

"No clue what you're talking about. I'm just a completely normal guy!" I protested, raising my hands in innocence. My phone grew heavy in my pocket. I wanted to call Annabeth so badly but I didn't know how to do that without blowing any cover I had left.

"If you're an innocent, completely normal guy, then you wouldn't mind coming with me to answer some questions. Right?"

Ok, I didn't really have an argument for that. This dude was smart; not as smart as Annabeth, but still smart. I reluctantly lowered my hands and shrugged.

"Sure? But don't I get a lawyer?" A plan began to form; Annabeth was smart, she knew at least a little but about law. "Because I think I'd like to call my lawyer,"

Doctor Bruce sighed but Tony finally got enough breath to speak again. Sadly.

"Sure, on the ride to my tower." He stood up and grabbed my arm lightly. My demigod instincts kicked in and I nearly flipped him over my shoulder, but if I wanted any chance at my semi-(demi)-normal life, I needed to pass this government questionnaire thing. I nodded and let them lead me away. I nodded towards one of my co-workers, who saw the whole thing.

"Cover for me?" I asked as we passed. The teenager nodded quickly and ran off towards the manager's office. I felt the stares of visitors, wondering why the happiest most carefree worker being lead from the aquarium by two avengers. Annabeth is going to kill me. There was a sleek black car waiting outside. It was probably a nice car, but I didn't really know much about cars. I rode a freaking pegasus for Hades' sake! I spent half my life in either the underworld of some kind of mythological mission, I didn't exactly have time to admire cars. In the time I'd spent thinking about his car, Tony had already had his driver leave the aquarium and now we were driving through New York way faster than I assumed the speed limit allowed.

"Can I call my lawyer yet?" I asked, crossing my arms. Tony rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Why do you need a lawyer?" Bruce pushed. I raised my eyebrows and motioned to the car around me,

"I'm being taken in for questioning without probable reason!" I know it sounds like I'm smart, but I actually just stayed up watching CSI last night. I got a sigh in response and took it as a yes. He watched me carefully as I slipped my phone from my pocket. I only had a few numbers in my phone, but Annabeth's was the first on the list. Thankfully.

"Hi, you've reached Annabeth Jackson. If you have this phone number I assume that you are in need of immediate help. If so, you can reach Percy Jackson at (323) 305-9723."

So yeah, that was useless. I smiled cheekily and quickly dialed the next number, praying to Iris that he would answer.

"Percy? What's wrong?" He answered almost immediately.

"Mr. Lawyer, nice to hear from you," I said awkwardly.

"Jackson tell me this isn't a joke."

"No, not at all Mr. Grace-,"

"Mr. Grace?" Jason interrupted. I ignored him.

"I've gotten myself in a little pickle. You see, two guys from SHIELD, avengers to be more specific, have picked me up for questioning. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going but I heard something about a tower," I said.

"Dammit Percy! What did you do?" Jason cut me off again. Rude.

"So if you could get ahold of Ms. _Chase_ , that would be great."

"Ok, I'll try my best Perce. I'm going to hang up before you get swarmed with monsters; we've already been talking too long." He hung up. I smiled,

"Great, I'll see you in a bit."

 **(Time skip to 15 minutes later)**

The driver suddenly swerved, sending my face into the window.

"Dammit, I think we're being followed," he said. Tony grabbed the suitcase at his feet as if preparing for something. I turned around quickly to look out to back window, fearful that my phone call had helped Greek monsters track me down. Instead, I saw a motorcyclist. To the normal person, this wouldn't have been very out of the ordinary, but the normal person couldn't see through the mist. What had at first seemed to be nothing but a simple motorbike was actually a pegasus, with Leo Valdez screaming bloody murder on its back.


	3. I get a lawyer (who doesn't obey laws)

I've seen a lot of crazy things in my life, but I'd have to admit, Leo was a surprise. I thought I'd just meet Annabeth at where ever Tony's tower was, but Jason sent Leo? Don't get me wrong, Leo's awesome and all, but he wasn't exactly the smartest guy around. And where was Annabeth?

"Get rid of him," Tony ordered. The driver complied. He swerved through and around traffic like nobody's business but he still couldn't seem to lose the motorcyclist. In reality, it was because Leo was flying above the cars, and the pegasus he was riding was highly motivated. Blackjack swung his head around as if trying to tell Leo to shut up.

 _Boss, you in there?_

I smiled. I was tempted to wave but I didn't think that would help my current situation any. The car suddenly slammed to a stop. The doors opened and I was pulled out. The stampede of men ran towards the building, giving me no choice but to go with them. We made it to the lobby before the doors opened behind us.

"Yo! That's my client you got!" Leo yelled, running as fast as his short legs would allow. I froze in my tracks, distracting the guards long enough for Leo to catch up.

"Mr. Valdez, nice to see you and all, but where's Ms. Chase?"

Leo glared at me and motioned with his eyes toward a paper on the bulletin board behind him. It had a picture of a large beautifully designed building with the caption _"Athenian Architecture"_ and a picture of Annabeth standing beside it, in her best suit and her arms crossed over her chest. Beautiful as ever. And smart as ever too; she knew people would recognize her if she came to my rescue. Still, I was a little hurt they sent _Leo_ instead.

"This your lawyer?" Bruce asked. Leo smiled and nodded quickly, practically daring me to say otherwise.

"Yeah. Regrettably." I almost rolled my eyes. Almost. Tony, on the other hand, didn't stop himself. He sighed for a moment before nodding and leading us upstairs. We got to an interrogation room. As soon as we sat down, my ADHD kicked in, so I really doubted Leo was any better. I looked over and was surprised to see that was sitting perfectly still.

"How are you so still?" I whispered, leaning closer so we'd go unheard. Leo remained perfectly calm.

"Have you ever been threatened by Annabeth Chase Jackson?" He whispered back. I smiled, remembered the good old days. And yesterday. Yeah, Annabeth threatened me a lot.

"Do you remember when she first got to New Rome? Annabeth threatens me a lot, a lot more than she threatens you," I said. Leo paled as if the thought terrified him.

"Can we get to our questions now, or are you too busy gossiping?" Tony asked. I straightened up and tried to pay attention.

"Yea yea, go right ahead. But I'll warn you now, I've got an amazing legal team waiting for me back at the office." Leo threw him a charming smile. Tony ignored him and began to ask his boring questions,

"How did you get me out of that tank. Even though I totally could have gotten out by myself," He reminded me a lot of Leo. Sarcastic, narcissistic, way too full of himself.

"I swam. Which, by the way, you seem unable to do." I said sarcastically. Leo nudged me but I had no idea what he was trying to say. The door opened and another man walked in. I recognized this man immediately; how could I not. Suddenly, I found a way to get myself out of this mess.

"Steve Rogers," I greeted. He looked surprised that I hadn't welcomed him with his more well-known name, Captian America.

"Nice to meet you. Have we met?" He asked. I smiled,

"Ask your little brother."

He dropped the papers he was holding and his face went slightly pale. He didn't really seem to get what I was trying to say. Too bad, I needed to get out of here. Tony's eyebrows knit in confusion but I didn't give him a chance to speak.

"Can I make another call? I promise this one will clear everything right up," I said with a smile. By this time, everybody was confused. Including Leo. But I knew something they didn't know.

Before the war, when Steve was younger, he didn't have many friends. He lived in a small apartment with Bucky and his adopted brother and sister, who they had found on the streets years earlier. **(AG: I'm changing Nico's back story to make this work, sorry!)** Nico was closer than a brother to the pair but went missing before Steve became the super-soldier. Bucky and Steve searched for as long as they could. Bucky nearly quit the army to look for him, but then Steve joined so Bucky stayed to try and keep him safe. They never stopped looking, but they never found Nico. The thing about Nico now, he was too scared to go see Steve. He didn't want to expose his friends and family, plus it would be nearly impossible to explain. Steve though he was dead, and Nico thought that was for the better.

"Fine." I was knocked from my thoughts by Steve, handing me his phone. I would have preferred to use my own but it was confiscated. I turned to Leo,

"What's Will's number?" You see, Nico didn't have a phone. He lived further from Camp, so having a phone became more dangerous for a kid of the Big Three. Will had a phone, which was the only way to get ahold of him or Nico if you didn't happen to have a drachma and a rainbow lying around. Leo typed in the number, still not knowing what was going on, and handed the phone back to me.

"Hello? Who is this?" Will asked.

"It's Percy, I gotta speak to the ghost king."

Will sighed. There was a slight pause, then a new voice said,

"Percy, what do you want?"

"Neeks! Good to hear from you. Listen, I know you're taking another break on the underworldy stuff, but I need you to come to Stark Towers." I said.

"Stark Towers? But that's where-,"

"I know, that's the point. I may or may not have been kidnapped by the avengers. Leo Valdez is a terrible lawyer and I need to get out of here before we're attacked. Please, I need you to come." I was proud of myself for actually saying please this time. Nico sighed, just like Will had done before.

"Fine." He said, "Where are you?"

I smiled,

"First interrogation room on the second floor."

"I'm going to kill you, Jackson." He hung up. I handed the phone back to Steve.

"How long until your friend gets Here?" Tony asked. I looked at the imaginary watch on my wrist,

"I don't know, about 10 seconds?" I guessed. Leo was staring daggers into my brain. I knew he wanted answers but he would have to wait, just like everybody else. There was a crash downstairs, then angry footsteps made their way towards our room. Steve got into a fighting position in front of the door.

"You might want to sit down Cap," I warned. He ignored me. Why does everybody do that? I'm not _always_ stupid! The door crashed open and a blonde boy with eyes blue as the sky appeared in the entry way.

"Perseus Jackson you better have a damn good reason to get Nico to travel across the entire state," he warned. I smiled sheepishly.

"Nico?" Steve asked. I looked to my lap as Will pieced one and one together.

"You called Nico to bail you out because you knew that Steve Rogers was here?"

I nodded,

"I couldn't exactly fight my way out; I'm a normal person now!"  
Will rolled his eyes, then stuck his head into the hallway and told the person with him to stay put. He turned to Captian America,

"Ok, what you're about to see will probably surprise you. No, scratch that, it will definitely surprise you. But when you see what I'm about to show you, I hope you'll understand."

I hope Nico told Steve about demigods and I hoped Steve knew how to keep a secret. Will exited the room for a second, then came back with a pale Nico Di' Angelo. Steve dropped his shield.

"Nico?" His voice was soft. Nico, surprisingly, smiled.

"Uhh, blame Dad?" He said as if asking a question. Will nudged him forward, and Steve gave him a tight hug.

"I thought you were dead!" He smiled brightly at my little cousin. Tony, who was silent until now, finally piped up.

"Ok, what's going on here?" He asked. Steve faltered. He looked to Nico, who instead of answering, pulled a card from his pocket. I didn't need to be able to read well to be able to know what it said. The picture on the card was a man standing in the midst of a giant wave, holding a trident and leading a row of horses made from the water around him. Dad. Steve took one look at me, then turned his attention back to Tony.

"He's a candidate for the Avengers."

Oh, styx.


	4. Nico, that's not what I meant

When I called Nico to come bail me out, I most certainly mean _make me a candidate for the avengers initiative._ No, I meant _come bail get me out of here, you small Italian moron!_

The room went silent in shock until Leo came to his senses. "All right!" He cheerfully quipped. I glared at him. Leo shrugged innocently, so I turned my attention back to my cousin, Will, and Steve. Steve was staring at Nico, Will had one hand on Nico's shoulder and one at the sheath on his belt and Nico was staring at me expectantly.

"Right! Steve, you, um, you want to explain?" I said, quickly passing the blame. Steve snapped to attention and tore his gaze away from the son of Hades.

"Oh, yes, right. Percy here is a friend of mine who I thought would be a great asset to us. I uh, well, I set up this meet so you could see partially what he's capable of," he stuttered. Tony narrowed his eyes.

"Which is, what exactly?"

I glared at Steve, warning him not to say anything about my powers.

"He's a very powerful fighter and has great endurance. He can find his way out of nearly any situation, which is how he was able to pull you from the shark tank," Steve answered. Ok, so I'll give him that one. Despite how he'd first reacted, Steve was pretty good at coming up with lies on the spot. Tony and Bruce both looked at me, so I nodded in confirmation.

"Does SHIELD know about this?" Bruce asked. I shook my head and looked to Steve.

"Well, SHIELD doesn't really know that I exist. We came up with this plan to see how you guys would react. My friend Nico here is an old friend of Tony's who helped me clear this up. Steve didn't know exactly who I was, only that I was the candidate. Nico is here to tell him."

"When you say, _old friends_..." Tony trailed off. The three of us exchanged glances, then Nico replied.

"After he unfroze. I was an intern at the SHIELD hospital where he was, unthawed," Nico said. Bruce was about to say something but the sound of alarms cut him off.

"Sir, there seems to be an attack two blocks to your East."

I had no idea what the voice was, But the avengers didn't seem fazed by the noise.

"What kind of attack?" Tony asked. Leo nudged me,

"I think you spent too much time on the phone," He whispered. I nodded in agreement.

"Unknown, sir. But it seems to be yelling for a sea spawn."

Leo, Nico, Will, and I exchanged a knowing look. The three of them looked at me, waiting for orders. I felt guilt beat through my chest as they did. I was their leader, so I was responsible for keeping them safe. I was no different from any other demigod, so why was _I_ their leader?

"Thank you, JARVIS." Tony got out of his chair and was about to call out orders, but I beat him to it.

"Nico, take Will go to the streets and find out what we're up against, then work on finding the weakness. Will, you're on citizen duty. Get everybody to safety and tend to any injuries, then get ready to help Nico and the others. Leo, come with me. If this is too big I want you to be ready to call for backup," I tossed him a drachma. "And be ready to back _me_ up." I stood up and the demigods all ran to complete their orders. Ignoring the avengers, we sprinted past them. I saw Will and Nico disappear into a nearby shadow before the Avengers could see and nodded to myself. I could hear footsteps hot on my heels and Leo by my side.

"Leo," I got his attention as we ran down the stairs, "no fire unless it's an emergency. I don't want to tip off the A-Team back there."

The avengers were hurriedly getting suited up. It was a waste of time in my opinion. We'd have the enemy neutralized and they'd be in their tower trying to discover if their outfit made them look fat or not. We sprinted through the lobby and onto the street. I could hear distant yelling and we made our way quickly towards it. Will was ushering a large crowd down the street and into a nearby parking garage while Nico stood in the street. His hand at his side and ready to reach for his Stygian Iron sword. I slowed once we reached them.

"I WILL FIND YOU SEA SCUM!" My old enemy, the minotaur, sounded a lot like Athena did when I first asked for her blessing to marry Annabeth. If old underwear-breath wasn't enough, behind him stood a group of 3 taloned donkey cheerleaders. The empousa growled when they saw me, Kelli being the loudest. I paled. I wasn't scared of Kelli, but last time I'd seen her was in Tartarus and I didn't want to remember that place. Behind her was a small basilisk and a chimera. Fun.

"Leo,"

"Got it, call for backup." He reached for the coin in his pocket. I shook my head,

"No, we need you to help fight."

Leo put the gold back and nodded sarcastically. He pulled a hammer from his tool belt and ran to fight but I stopped him.

"Nico! Focus on the Empousa. Leo, the Chimera might spit some fire so I want you on him." I turned to Will, who had a pleading look in his eyes. I knew he wanted to help Nico but there were more monsters than there were of us; I also knew what he was feeling, "Will, focus on the basilisk."

He nodded in and took out his bow. Leo flipped his hammer in his hands, tossed me a grin, then ran into action screaming about how McShizzle was in da house. I quickly made sure nobody was hurt, then faced my enemy.

"Hey, unicorn!" I yelled at the minotaur. He turned to me, his head tilting to the side where his single horn was still sprouting from his head. He roared in anger before charging me. He hadn't learned much from our last encounter, but I had. I ducked and rolled to the side. Pulling Riptide from my pocket and flicking off the cap, I sprang up and turned around. Old meat face raised his hand and tried to swat me to oblivion like a fly. The hand was unexpected and I barely jumped in time to miss it. I jumped and clung to his thumb, then raced up his arm while he was still thinking he'd hit me. I reached the top of his head and he reared. He shook his head like a dog as he tried to get me off, but I dug my sword into his neck and held on tight. He paused for a moment to try and whack me off, so I climbed higher. I gripped his horn, which really pissed him off. Apparently, he wanted to have a lopsided head forever because as soon as I grabbed the horn he flipped out. He bent his head so I was barely dangling there, then started running. I glanced at the building he was currently seconds from ramming his head into. If I didn't do something quick, I was going to be smashed into a Percy pancake. I held tight to his horn, jabbed my sword into the flesh beneath it, then pulled. Less than a second before we were going to hit the wall, the minotaur suddenly burst into a puff of golden dust. I fell to the ground, landing in a crouched position with the horn in my hand. To my left, Leo was struggling with the chimera. Beside him, I could see Will duck from the basilisk venom. I needed to do something, quick, before two of my friends were either eaten alive or burned alive by basilisk acid. I made sure not to get the monster's attention as I sprinted forward. I leaped into the air and threw my sword just as the basilisk went in for the kill. I didn't wait to see what happened because I still needed to take care of the chimera. While I was still in the air, I grabbed ahold of the the dragon head. It spits fire, and I quickly jerked my body to the left, forcing its head to move. The fire from the dragon's mouth hit the lion. As they both roared in anger, I turned to check on Will. He stepped back as the basilisk fell to his feet with my sword protruding from its eye. It exploded into dust. Will immediately ran to Nico's aid. I held onto the now very angry chimera and waited for the Riptide to return. It only took a moment before I felt a familiar weight in my pocket. I took riptide and it quickly sprang into a sword. While Leo was busy distracting the lion, I lopped off the dragon's head, slit the goat's throat, and dug my blade into the top of the lion's head. Leo grinned at me as it turned to dust. I smiled back before turning my attention to Will and Nico. Kelli was currently trying to woo Nico, who only stared at her in disgust. See! I had a reason to put Nico on cheerleader duty! Kelli couldn't put a gay man under her spell. From behind, Will took his bow and shot the empousa he was fighting. He turned to help Nico, but the son of Hades had already decapitated Kelli. They high fived and ran over to us.

I subconsciously scanned them for injuries. Nobody was seriously hurt, but Will handed us each a small piece of Ambrosia anyway. Somebody coughed to get our attention. I turned to see the avengers, finally suited up, all standing behind us with crossed arms and open mouths.

"What the hell was that?"


	5. ASSguardian Gods

Tony's face was as red as his suit. More people had joined the Avenger's group, including Black Widow and Hawk Eye, but Percy made eye contact with Steve.

"I told you, they're good fighters."

Tony didn't take that as an answer. "His scrawny _lawyer_ was fighting! And were those monsters?!" He yelled.

"Hey! Scrawny is the new sexy-," Nico whacked Leo in the chest before he could continue. Steve looked at me as if to say, _well, I tried my best. Your turn!_

"That's because he's not really my lawyer, he's just a friend of mine. I don't have a lawyer." I scratched the back of my neck. Tony seemed to buy this. He didn't say anything, but turned around and went back to the tower after throwing his arms into the air in defeat. Everybody just seemed to slowly follow him, except the demigods. Will told the people in the parking garage that it was safe to come out, then they all turned to me again.

"Ok, you guys head back to Camp in case they decide I'm better as a prisoner," I said. Nico furrowed his eyebrows and raised his hand. "If it get's too bad I'll Iris Message." he took the coin from Leo's pocket to prove his point. Nico lowered his hand.

"Annabeth is going to hate this," He commented. I flinched in agreement.

"Yeah, I know. Now go, I'll talk to you as soon as I get the chance. And somebody, punch Jason for me," I ordered

Nico took off in a run towards the avenger's tower, leaving the others behind. The Avengers all sat down in the lounge when they got back, forgetting that I was with them. How did they forget about me? I mean, the past hour had been pretty eventful!

"So, can I go now?" I asked. Bruce jumped, his eyes sparkling green for a short moment. Steve looked around for the other demigods,

"Where's,"

"He's fine, just went back home," I said, referring to Nico. "He'll be back, don't worry." Steve narrowed his eyes and I knew we would be having a long discussion after this. "I'll let him explain."

Steve reluctantly agreed. Tony exchanged a quick glance with the rest of the avengers and began to answer my question,

"No way, you're way too good of a fighter; we can't just let you go!"

My hand slipped into my pocket and my fingers wrapped around Riptide.

"You're totally becoming an avenger!"

Ok, not what I was expecting. I raised his eyebrows but didn't speak.

"Tony, I don't think you have the power to do that," Natasha began. Tony silenced her by shoving his hand in her face; she looked as if she were going to tear his fingers off.

Steve winked at me before interrupting the two, "Actually, I think the guide book says that an overall vote within the initiative can overrule a commanding officer in the debate of a new recruit," he cited. I didn't know what half the words he said had even meant, but they sounded important.

"What does that mean?" Clint asked, speaking for the first time. Steve smiled and cleared his throat.

"It means that if we all vote in favor of letting Percy become an avenger, then our vote will overrule Fury."

Tony smiled evilly. "I don't know about the kid, but anything to do with overruling Fury is something I like," he said. In a way, Tony reminded me of Clarisse. Both of them had a _major_ problem with authority. And me.

I was once again put into an interrogation room, while the Avengers spoke about whether or not this would be a good idea. I was still wondering how my life has spiraled so far away from normal in the past two hours. I only knew one thing for certain: Annabeth was going to murder me.

(Time skip

I was dying.

Well, that's what I felt at least. I hadn't left that room for nearly an hour and I was losing my mind. My ADHD was driving me to the brink of insanity. I was playing with Riptide and daydreaming that Annabeth kicked the door in and broke me out. It didn't happen. Mid-daydream, the door opened. I nearly flicked Riptide's cap off and sliced Clint in half.

"Dude, you're tense. What are you planning? To stab me in the eye with your ballpoint pen?"

I scratched the back of my neck and awkwardly lowered Riptide.

Clint opened the door wider. "Come on," he said. I, although a complete Seaweed Brain, had grown wary over the years.

"Why?" I asked, my voice deepening and my demeanor going slightly dark. Clint took a step back and his arms tensed at his sides.

"Relax kid; Captian America can be very convincing when he wants to be. I guess I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but you're in." he motioned towards the door and this time, I followed him out. The team was sitting around the coffee table in the living room and they were all staring at me.

"Avengers, meet Percy Jackson. Percy, meet the Avengers-," Clint was cut off by a tall blonde man with a red cape suddenly standing up and dropping his hammer in surprise. I saw the god and groaned in recognition.

"Oh come on! You're Magnus's to deal with! I already did my share of Norse!" I yelled before grabbing Thor by the arm and dragged him into the hallway.

"Perseus it is an honor to meet you! I have heard so many stories-," I held up a finger and shoved it in Thor's face. Thor froze, his hands raised in excitement and his face in a wide grin. His eyes were wide and he looked down at my finger. I shook his head.

"No. No no no no no. Don't say anything!" I threatened.

Thor's smile fell and I almost felt bad for the big guy. "But, but, you're Perseus Jackson! You single handily defeated-,"

My slipped Riptide from his pocket and Thor went silent. I smiled and nodded at him. "Good, now that that's taken care of... Tell the rest of the team that you mistook me for somebody else. And if you take one step out of line I will call Annabeth," I said. Thor nodded quickly and I patted him on the back. Once they were back in the living room, Thor sat down and began to fiddle with his hammer.

"What the hell was that?" Tony's outburst caused several heads to turn. I sent Thor a deadly glare, warning him not to say anything.

"I was confused. I, I confused him for another." Thor looked down. The room was once again silent. I didn't like the awkward silences; it causes my ADHD to act up. Thor's gaze never left the pen that I twirled around my fingers.

"So, what time is it?" I asked, mostly just to fight the silence. Steve glanced at the wall clock that I hadn't notied before.

"3:30. Why; you got somewhere to be?" Natasha answered. My eyes went wide and I had a sickening guilt welled up in my chest.

"I gotta go!" I jumped from the chair and ran for the door. "I'll be back tomorrow!" I yelled over my shoulder.

(Switch to 3rd person POV)

The team exchanged glances.

"We should follow him."

Steve and Thor tried to protest but they were clearly outvoted. The avengers were easily recognizable, so they put on their most unnoticeable clothes and ran after him. Of course, that wouldn't stop anybody from recognizing them but hey, at least they tried.

They expected a lot of things when they followed Percy Jackson. They expected a bar, a house, maybe a business. But they didn't expect him to show up to a high school.


	6. Papa Percy and Mini-Jackson

**NIXON**

Most of the kids in the high school had already left but there was one kid sitting alone in the courtyard. The boy had crazy blonde hair and familiar green eyes. He sat under a tree on the front lawn with a large book in his lap.

"You're late," He said as Percy approached. Percy smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Sorry little man, I got held up. Will a bowl of ice cream make it better?" Percy offered. The kid grinned and stood up.

"Definitely!" he said. Percy offered his hand to the boy, who returned the favor by flipping Percy over his shoulder.

"Nixon! I will call your mother!" Percy threatened. The kid, Nixon, laughed.

"No, you won't! You'll get in just as much trouble as me!"

Percy chuckled and slung an arm around Nixon's shoulder.

"Dad, you know you're being followed, right?" Percy tensed and the Avengers sucked in their breaths. Son? Thor looked as if he were about to faint; his face was bright red and he looked constipated. In other words, he looked like a fangirl. Percy moved Nixon behind his back and slipped the pen from his pocket.

"Who's there?" He called. The avengers all exchanged a worried glance.

" _Retreat?_ " Clint signed. Tony nodded frantically and rushed back towards the tower, leaving the others no choice but to follow.

"Well, they just left so I guess we're good now," the mysterious kid shrugged casually. Percy nodded reluctantly.

"As if. After today, I don't think anything's a coincidence. Let's go straight home." He laid one hand on Nixon's shoulder and lead him away. Natasha looked over as she ran to watch them, and saw Percy doing the same.

(Back to 1st person POV)

I was tense the entire walk home. It was one thing for me to be followed, it was another thing for me to be followed to my son's school.

"Dad, chill out." Nixon smiled with his mouth full of ice cream. I rolled his eyes but my loose on Nixon's shoulder loosened. I had wanted to go straight to the house but Nixon's puppy dog eyes were impossible and he has a way with words and BOOM now he had ice cream. I grew nervous as they approached the Jackson household. Part of me was awaiting the inevitable pain of a judo-flip but a larger part of me couldn't wait to get back to my wife. While I was busy staring off into the sun like the seaweed brain I am, Nixon took out his key and opened the door.

"Mom! We're home!" He called. He smirked humorously before disappearing into the kitchen.

"PERSEUS ACHILLES JACKSON!"

Hear that? That's the sound of my freedom dying.

"Hey, Wise girl..." I scratched the back of my neck. Annabeth appeared in the entry way. Her shoulder length blonde curls bounced in a way that I could only describe as dangerously. Her fiery grey eyes glared daggers into my skull. One hand punched me in the face, the other rested over her swollen belly.

"Percy, what the Hades were you thinking?" She asked.

"Ow!" I replied, rubbing my bruised cheek. Nixon threw a small chunk of ambrosia at my face, which hit me in the eye and actually hurt by the way. "Thanks Nix, you're a big help!"

As he laughed, Annabeth yanked me forward for a hug and kissed me for a second longer than it was comfortable for Nixon to watch.

"Guyyys!" He whined. Annabeth pulled away and eyed me carefully.

"Someday you'll be kissing, it won't be so gross then," she said. I laughed but Nixon didn't find the humor.

"Whatever." He huffed and went off to his bedroom. As soon as he was gone, the glare returned to Annabeth's eyes.

"I should have known. Only you can make an aquarium job into something that involves the _Avengers_ ," she chided softly.

I shrugged. "I don't know, I'm just special," I said.

She rolled her eyes and kissed me again. "Now tell me everything that happened."

I sighed and motioned towards the living room. We were still baby proofing everything, so electrical cords were laying around the room, ready to put out of reach. I helped Annabeth sit get comfortable on the couch and sat next to her with her legs resting on my lap. I began to massage her feet as I recounted the past day.

Annabeth listened intently, only interrupting to mutter something about my idiocy every few minutes or roll her eyes. I knew Nixon was listening; I could hear the floorboards creaking in the hallway outside his door. I finished talking and waited for her to say something.

"Does this mean I can call uncle Magnus?" Nixon asked, stepping into the room. He sat down on the couch and used my arm as his pillow. I looked to Annabeth.

"No, he's busy with some kind of Valkyrie problem. He probably won't be able to help anyway. Thor won't do us any good; he's just a giant baby Jason." She paused. "We'll just play this as it goes. I'm sure your boss won't mind if you only worked part time."

I exchanged a glance with Nixon. "So I'm going to be an Avenger?"

Annabeth nodded, taking a notebook from seemingly out of nowhere. "I'll talk to Chiron, Sally, and the Hermes cabin tomorrow to make you a backstory they won't think to question. We'll need to make a story to explain your scars and PTSD," she said, writing furiously.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, growing bored.

"Nothing; I don't trust you to do this. Take a nap or something."

Geez, really feeling the love. Nixon stuck his tongue out at me. Does nobody in my family love me? Nixon moved to the kitchen table and started his homework. I decided to take Annabeth's advice, but my sleep was interrupted by four hollow knocks at the door.


	7. He will knock four times (dooweedoo!)

(Sorry! I forgot to update yesterday so here's an extra chapter)

Annabeth and I exchanged glances. I slipped my hand into my pocket and latched my hands around Riptide. I ordered Nixon to go to his room while Annabeth moved to get up.

"Don't even think about it Wise girl." I set a gentle hand on her stomach in concern. She glared at me, but rested her hand next to mine and grudgingly decided I was right. She sat tensely on the couch with her hand grasped around the hidden dagger next to the couch. I know this was probably an unusual behavior to you, but we're demigods. Plus, how often do you get people coming to your house? Don't answer that.

I peeked through the peephole in the door, smiling at the familiar face. I undid the many locks on the door and pulled it open. Annabeth noticed how my persona changed and relaxed. I undid the many locks on the door and pulled it open with open arms.

"Nick! Long time no see, man. Come on in!" I greeted, my hand slipping back out of my pocket. Annabeth smiled warmly and got up to greet him. Nicholas Fury smiled and limped into the front room.

"Hello Percy, Annabeth, it's been too long," Nick said as he gave Annabeth a hug. Nicholas Fury was a son of Victoria (Roman version of Nike). He'd been going to Camp for a year before I got there, but the biggest quest he'd ever lead was the one to initiate the avengers.

"What's this about? I have a hard time believing you're here on a pleasure visit," I hinted.

Nick chuckled. "You're right," he said. "this is a strictly business meeting," I groaned. Business. I hated business. Annabeth whacked my arm painfully.

"Ow!" I yelped, rubbing my already bruised arm. Annabeth tended to hit me a lot, and it hurt every time.

"What did Percy do this time?" She asked in exasperation. It's not always my fault!

Nick worked in the government. If he was here for business, then I was in trouble. Again. Like usual. Nick smiled and pulled a file from his jacket. "While you're an Avenger, you'll be working for me. Or that's what the team will think anyway. If you need to take charge at any time you can. And from what I know, nobody but Steve Rogers knows of your powers or your ancestry, correct?"

"Right," I said, nodding and motioning for him to continue. Nick spoke mostly to Annabeth because apparently I'm not trustworthy. Well, I couldn't disagree.

"Keep it that way. For as long as you can, anyway." He handed Annabeth the file and I leaned over her shoulder to read it.

"Nick, you know my dyslexia isn't going to let me read this," I whined. Annabeth whacked me again.

"It's a legal document allowing you to take charge. I don't want the others to know about his but if something happens and you have to take charge, then we'll need this in order to keep our jobs," Fury explained. Jobs. Hmm. So now being an Avenger was my job? I got a sickening feeling in my gut. I didn't mean to but by the look on Nick's face, I used my famous puppy dog eyes. "What?" he asked. Oops. #noregrets

"Does that mean I can't work at the aquarium? Those fish need somebody to talk to! Nobody else can listen to them and figure out what's wrong and help them and make them feel better when they're sad-," I would have gone on but Fury cut me off while Annabeth laughed. Why was she laughing! This is a serious problem!

"Fine, I'll arrange for you to be able to continue to work there while you're not with the Avenges," he said with a tired sighed. I smiled and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Ok, good." I felt relieved for the fish. I hated that they were all locked up, but most of them liked it. For the few fish who hated it at the aquarium? Well, let's just saw they escaped. #noregrets

"I really should be going. Next time you're at Camp tell Chiron I said hello." He smiled and moved to tip his imaginary hat. He took the signed document from my hands and disappeared out the door.

"Nike kids." I shook my head. "Always the macho mysterious type."


	8. At least I tried to be a good dad

(Less Avengers in this update, more family bonding moments with Nixon)

By the time my alarm went off the next morning, I wasn't even sure where I was supposed to be going. Did I go to Stark Tower? Did I go back to the aquarium? I'd really like to go back to the aquarium.

"Dad, can you drop me off today? I have, something, going on this morning," Nixon asked as he walked by our bedroom. I opened my eyes to see him trying to adjust the sleeve to his light red button up. Ok, now I was awake. Nixon is like his mother, so why is he unconfidently stuttering an excuse?

Annabeth had to go to work early today so she was already gone, leaving nothing but a lipstick-stained kiss on my forehead. Dam. I used to try and wake up early so I could say goodbye or cook her breakfast, but I was TIRED! Instead of sitting in my own depression of missing Annabeth, I groggily got up and went to go find Nixon in the kitchen.

"What's going on this morning?" I asked suspiciously. A pink tinge spread across my son's cheeks and he tried to hide behind his hands.

"Nothing, just meeting up to study..." He trailed off. I put Annabeth's pre-made blue waffle mix in the waffle iron and raised my eyebrows.

"Does study date have a name?" I continued to prod. Nixon turned even brighter red. He didn't answer the question.

"Dad, can I tell you something?" Nixon finally spoke. He seemed more nervous than meeting somebody for studying should have made him.

"Nix, are you in any trouble?" I asked cautiously.

"Well, no,"

"Cuz I'm the king of trouble. So if you need help, just don't tell your mother and we can work something out-"

"Dad, I'm not in trouble." Nixon interrupted. If he wasn't in trouble, does that mean I am?

"Oh," I can't deny it, I kinda wished he was. I hadn't blown any toilets up for a year at least. I finished the waffles and stacked two onto Nixon's plate. He mumbled a quick thanks and took three bites before pushing his plate away. This made me suspicious. Now Nixon may have been a big smarty like his mom, but he had the got my appetite. I set my plate on the counter and sat down in front of him. "Ok, let's not make this awkward. You're worried about something. Your eyebrows crease together just like your mom's do when you're stressed," I said. Nixon mumbled another feeble excuse. I crossed my hands neatly on the table and waited.

"Dad I'm dating a guy," he suddenly blurted. I reached for my waffles.

"Dude you got me all worried for that? Thank the gods! I thought you'd got yourself in some serious Leo-like-doo-doo!" I scarfed down my blue waffles.

"That's it?" Nixon asked.

"Well, yeah. What'd you expect me to say?" I looked sadly down at my empty plate. He shrugged and was silent for a moment before launching into a rant about why he was actually worried.

"Yeah, good point. Anyway, I'm meeting him before school today. He said he wanted to tell me something so I stayed up all night freaking out about it and I even put on a button up shirt today because I'm worried but there hasn't been anything that should make me worried but I'm still worried but-,"

"Nix!" I interrupted him. His contorted face beamed up at me before he dropped it into his hands. This was worse than the time Annabeth's blueprint idea was stolen by her old boss. (She worked at some little company before moving on to create her own) "Meet me in the car in ten minutes, we're getting coffee and brownies at that one place your mom takes us to when she gets a new business deal," I ordered. I stood up, put my plate in the sink, and went to the bedroom to get dressed for the day. I got dressed in my aquarium uniform, then tried to remember if I was supposed to be going to meet the avengers today. Nick probably told me what I was supposed to do… Oops. #noregrets

Oh well, better safe than sorry (ignore how ironic that statement is coming from me). I grabbed my wallet, keys, ambrosia, drachmas, and riptide, before turning off the lights and locking the doors. Nixon was already sitting in the passenger seat by the time I got to the car.

We drove to the coffee shop in silence, Nixon nervously wringing his hands next to me. Now that he'd told me, he only seemed worried about whatever this guy wanted to tell him. I couldn't believe he was worried! In my life, I've learned to be a pretty accepting guy! Plus, my mother is the ultimate most amazing person.

"Dad, what do you think he wants to tell me?" Nixon asked.

"Well I'm not really very experienced at relationships, I've technically only been in one, so I don't really know much. But I _do_ know you. Any person in their right mind, boy or girl, would be the happiest person ever to have you by their side. " I told him. I think Aphrodite may have been possessing me. The sad part? I'm not joking.

"You mean that?" Nixon bright smile reminded me of Annabeth, which really made me miss her. Dam, I couldn't even spend ten minutes without my wife.

"No, I was being completely sarcastic. Of course I meant it! Now, what's this guy's name? Tell me everything."

Nixon laughed at stared out the window with a familiar wistful expression that made me miss his mother. "His name is Alec Spencer. We met at the beginning of the year but we didn't start, you know, going out, until last week. He's so nice and sweet and brave. You'd love him, dad!" His smile was enough to make me like this Alec guy. We pulled up to the coffee shop and I parked the car. Nixon shuffled out his door and stuffed his hands awkwardly in his pocket.

"Can I get a hot chocolate for Alec too?" Nixon asked sheepishly. Where did the romantic side come from? Neither Annabeth nor I were very good at being the romantic type. Maybe he's been spending too much time with Leo and Calypso. Believe it or not, Leo was actually pretty good at that sort of thing. Why do you think Caly's stayed around so long?

"Sure thing." I ruffled his hair and he leaned into my side.

"GET DOWN!" Somebody screamed as gunshots echoed through the coffee shop. I grabbed Nixon and dove behind a table, pulling out my sword and getting my son behind me.

Maybe I _should_ have gone to the Avengers tower today...


	9. He's late, he's late! For school

"Dad, is this a Greek or Mortal problem?" Nixon asked. I was proud of my son; while facing an unknown danger his first instinct was to assess the situation and make a plan, like his mom. Of course, I was proud but I was also jealous. My first instinct was to raise my sword and swing. Usually, that didn't end well. Annabeth usually planned these things. I wish she was here. Wait, this is a dangerous situation, no I don't. I want to keep Nixon safe, but I don't want to put Annabeth and my unborn child in danger of guys with guns/

"Can't tell yet. But usually, monsters don't have guns," I answered.

"In that case, you should probably your Avenger friends," Nixon said. My what? Oh right, I was an Avenger now. Yay. Did I have the phone number of any of them? I doubt it; there was only like ten numbers in my phone. Nixon would probably know the number. He's just smart like that.

"Everybody put your wallets, phones, and jewelry in the bag!" one of the men shouted. I peeked over the counter to see who we were dealing with. There were only two guys, both wearing black ski masks.

"Should I call Mom?" Nixon whispered. I thought for a moment before shaking my head. If Nixon got caught on the phone we'd be in trouble, and if he called Annabeth then monsters would go to her. I'd rather not have monsters after my pregnant wife. Plus, that would also send monsters after us, and I think we had enough problems to deal with at the moment.

"Phone, wallet, jewelry. Now!" A man stuck a gun in my face and motioned towards my pockets. I pulled my flip phone and my wallet from my pocket and tossed it into his bag.

"Sure thing man, no problem," I said, attempting to not to sound as tense as I really was. Usually, I'd be a little less worried in this type of situation but my kid was here. Don't mess with my family. Or friends. Or acquaintances. Or well, anybody I guess. Nevermind I don't know what I'm saying.

"And the necklace," he said. What necklace? All I was wearing was my camp necklace, and that wasn't particularly expensive.

"No," Nixon answered. Oh, Nixon! Around his neck was a silver chain and sword pendant from Thalia. We didn't get to see Thalia much anymore and the necklace was very important to him, Thals gave it to him for his first birthday.

"Give me the necklace!" The second man approached and they cornered us. I felt myself moving in front of Nixon more than I already was. You wouldn't be able to tell that Nixon was nervous, but his vice like grip on my arm told me he was.

"No," I repeated Nixon's answer, then swung my feet up and smashed my boots into their faces. I regrettably pulled myself from my son's grip and punched an exit to the door so he could make a run for it."Nixon get out!" I yelled, jumping to my feet and kicking the gun out of the first man's hand. Probably not a good idea. I couldn't hurt these guys with my sword. Oh well! #noregrets

"Yeah, sure Dad." Nixon smiled smugly and ignored my order. Instead, he saved my life by hitting the second thief over the head with his backpack.

"Thanks, Nix."

I went back to attacked the first guy, as Nixon's heavy bookbag had completely knocked the first one out. I was wary of Nixon behind me as I got the second attacker and a headlock and held my arm to his throat until he passed out. He kicked and hit while I cut off his air but didn't do much damage besides a cut chin and bruised shins. I let the man drop to the floor and turned back to Nixon.

"Are you ok?" I grasped him by the shoulders and frantically looked him over. Nixon smiled and I was relieved when it reached his eyes. I knew how a smile could deceive you.

"Dad, I'm fine. We're ok," he said. I looked him over for a moment before nodding.

"Is everybody else ok?" I picked up the bag of stolen wallets, phones, and accessories and held the items out to their respective owners. People ran towards us and began to thank me profusely and began to cry. At that point, all I could do was awkwardly tell them that it was really no problem and I was glad they were ok. Thankfully, Nixon took over and handed everybody back their items and was a proper gentleman, helping people get their jewelry back on and reassure them that the situation was over and everybody was ok.

"You must be so proud," an older woman said as she clasped the golden locket that Nixon had returned. The woman seemed less nervous than I was. Actually, she seemed perfectly calm, and it was making me jealous. I felt myself smile as I watched my son helping these people.

"I am, I really am,"

"Dad, school starts in twenty minutes," Nixon said, nudging me. I have a totally normal kid, whose first instinct was to leave so he could get to school on time.

"Right." I stood up and made my way to the counter, where the frazzled waitress was still shaking in her boots.

"Can I get a blue raspberry soda and two medium hot chocolates?" I asked her. She looked up at me with wide eyes, then looked behind me to where Nixon was hog-tying the thieves with their own masks. "And you might want to call the cops to pick those two up," I added. She didn't move for a moment, then nodded frantically. I noticed she was shaking and quickly drew my arm over the counter and set my hand atop hers. "It's ok, you don't have to, we're fine!" Behind me, Nixon nodded in agreement. Her smiled quivered but she shook her head, "no I'm ok, really, just a little I don't know, freaked out? Nothing like this has ever happened to me before, she said. Her wild red hair reminded me of Rachel, but even Rachel's hair wasn't this poofy.

"Thank you," I smiled warmly.

"Of course sir! Thank you! Thank you so much!" She ran off to complete our order. Nixon was busy reorganizing his books in his bag. He was so calm that it was hard to believe somebody had just shoved a gun in his face. Well, it made sense; he was used to fighting ancient Greek bloodthirsty monsters. Two drinks and my bottle of soda were slid across the counter. I pulled out my wallet and began to leaf through my money when the waitress waved her hands.

"Oh no no no! It's on the house, sir! Please, thank you!" she insisted. I shrugged.

"Oh, ok then. Thank you!" I grinned and stuffed a ten in the tip jar.

"Dad, I'm going to be late!" Nixon swung his bag over his shoulder and ran towards the door. I grabbed the drinks, which was quite difficult seeing as there were three drinks and I only had two hands, and ran after him.


	10. The Chase (Jackson)

"The coffee shop conservators? Really? I thought we decided you'd stay low." Nick Fury dropped the newspaper on the table in front of me and the other Avengers. I shrugged and cheekily grinned in an attempt to look innocent.

"I don't remember agreeing to that. And what was I supposed to do? Somebody could have gotten hurt! My _son_ could have gotten hurt!" I argued, shoving the paper off the table. Fury eyed me for a long minute before sighing in defeat. He knew he wouldn't be able to win this against me.

"I should know by now, nothing with you is on the down low." He muttered. I chuckled, remembering the last time I was " _laying low_ ," without a memory in an unknown camp. Fun times.

"Eh, he's an Avenger. Got to make a reputation, am I right?" Tony asked with his feet resting on the table and a playboy plastered across his face. Natasha smacked him for me. I wasn't trying to build a reputation, I was trying to make sure me, my son, and innocent people weren't killed by amateur robbers.

"We think it's may be an enemy who specifically targeted you. It can't be a coincidence that you get attacked the same day after becoming a part of the Avengers Initiative." Bruce said. With my luck, it was probably a Greek or Roman or Egyptian or Norse problem. Dude. Too much mythology.

I shrugged. "I don't know, I tend to have really bad luck."

I heard Nick scoff and playfully glared while he muttered something about the "Understatement of the century." Rude. I didn't like the idea of being specifically targeted, especially when Nixon was with me. If being an Avenger was going to put my family at risk, I didn't want to be a part of it.

"They targeted me because I'm an Avenger?" I asked. Fury recognized the look on my face and crossed his arms to avoid answering the question. Bruce, on the other hand, didn't have such problems.

"Well, I've done some research into the coffee shop attack and I think they may have been trying to figure out if you really are the same guy that was fighting yesterday," he said. I looked at Nick Fury, the only guy who would give me actual answers.

"We checked the security camera footage. You weren't fighting like you were yesterday and you didn't have any weapons, and you had a kid with you so we think you're probably in the clear for now," he answered.

"If this is going to put my family and friends in danger, I don't want to be a part of it," I put my foot down. Nobody said anything but surprisingly, Tony mockingly rose his hand with a suggestion.

"Why don't you just wear a mask? I do! I mean, I already told everybody who i am but it'll work if you don't tell people."

Actually, that wasn't a bad idea. I'm sure the Hephaestus cabin could make me a snazzy mask and suit or something. Thor stood up and began motioning wildly with his arms.

"I can access you a helmet of the Norse! Forged from-"

"I'm good Thor, thanks though," I interrupted. I know it was probably rude to cut the dude off, but I wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

There was a loud banging at the door, which was strange since we were in the Avengers tower and few people could get by the security without JARVIS alerting us. Fury glared at Tony until he finally groaned and got up to see who it was. Stark left the room, and we went back to discussing masks and the best ways to keep me hidden.

"I don't want anybody to see my face, especially not the bad guys," I said. I could practically see Annabeth rolling her eyes at my word choice.

"Good, because I'm going to rearrange it!" A familiar voice threatened. I bolted straight out of my chair to see my wife stomping around the corner with her hands on her hips and death in her eyes. I noticed her lips tip upwards in relief. Nick Fury looked just as terrified as I was.

"Annabeth," I ran to approach her but was greeted with a familiar message. A judo flip. I landed on the floor behind her and she stood above me with a victorious smirk.

"Mrs. Jackson," Nick stopped talking, unable to find an excuse in time. Annabeth stuck a threatening finger in his face and placed a hand on the hidden dagger at her waist. "Nevermind," he added. She nodded approvingly and I stood back up before she turned around.

"Mrs. Chase, it is an honor to meet you! I read your papers on architectural design being used to better support modern medical facilities and I have to say, it may have been one of the most interesting things I've ever read," Bruce Banner said. For the first time since she arrived, Annabeth smiled.

"Thank you Mr. Banner, I appreciate it. I would love to talk to you about your research on gamma radiation, I have some ideas I'd like to go over with you," she responded. She inched her way closer to me as she spoke, something I don't think she even noticed that she did. Bruce nodded quickly and wrote down some numbers, probably his phone number. I would have been jealous, but I knew Annabeth better than that. Plus, her pregnant belly made it obvious she was off limits. She took the paper and tucked it neatly in her bag.

"Now, back to you Seaweed Brain. I tried to pick Nixon up from school but he refused to leave so now I'm here with you." Her eyes glanced over me and concern knitted her eyebrows. "Are you ok?" She asked quietly, getting closer so the others wouldn't hear. I smiled and took her by the waist.

"I'm perfectly fine, Nixon and I took care of it."

She slapped me across the face, then she kissed me.

"Are you off from work for the whole day?" I asked once she pulled away. Annabeth smirked and took my hand.

"My boss gave me the day off," she said.

I looked down and tried to think for a moment, "But, you're your own boss?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes and I heard a scoff behind me. "Exactly, seaweed brain."

Oh wait, I get it. Oops.

When I looked back up, I noticed several confused glances from the rest of the team. "Right, so this is my wife Annabeth. Annabeth, this is the Avengers," I introduced.

"I know," Annabeth said matter-of-factly. I rolled my eyes and dragged her to the couch. I assumed they'd all talk about smart stuff or something but noooooo. Annabeth took this as an opportunity to share embarrassing stories of me. I, of course, decided to back out of the conversation. I leaned into the cushions of the couch and put my arm around Annabeth's waist. My thumb gently caressed the side of her stomach. Now that Annabeth was here, my worries seemed to disappear. I'd missed her.

Steve Rogers sent me a look that I couldn't decipher. I squinted and tried to figure out what he wanted. It didn't work. Finally, I couldn't take it.

"What?" I was tempted to ask if there was something on my face, but every other time I said that Annabeth laughed at me. I loved making Annabeth laugh, but I'd had enough humor at my expense for the day.

"When is Nico going to be back?" he asked. Oh of course, it's always about little Neeks. Yeah, if I were Rogers I'd be worried too. I was hoping that Annabeth would take over the conversation, but she was too busy going over scientific protocol with Bruce to notice my panic.

"It's not exactly safe for him to travel all the way down here," I finally answered. Steve's puppy dog eyes bore into my soul and something inside me broke. Nico was like a brother to him. If I'd been frozen for almost a hundred years and I'd lost my little sister, I don't know what I'd do. I sighed. "Get your star-spangled coat, I'm sure Nic's dying to talk to you." I smiled at my pun and stood up, beckoning towards the exit. Steve's face lit up. He was excited enough to let my America joke slide, a luxury not usually extended to Stark. Nicholas Fury watched me with raised eyebrows, so I threw him a pouted smile. "I'll bring your Captain back safely, I promise. Annabeth, can I talk to you for a moment?"

My beautiful wife nodded and I helped her from the couch. While Steve ran off and disappeared into the elevator, I spoke to Annabeth.

"I'm going to bring Steve down to Will and Nico's place, are you going to come or stay here?" I asked. My hand was still around her waist and I didn't want to let go.

She scoffed. "Obviously, I'm coming." She took my hand and I followed her to the stairwell.

"Later!" I called over my shoulder before we left. Annabeth took my hand and we made our way down the stairs.

"Percy slow down, I've got an extra person to carry!" Annabeth laughed and pulled me back. I grinned and picked her up bridal style.

"Then I'll carry the both of you!" I protested. Annabeth giggled, something I was proud to say she only did around me, and held onto me to keep from falling. I hurled myself carefully down the stairs with her still in my arms. When we got to the bottom, I put her down and we walked casually into the lobby like perfectly mature adults. Our hands were still clasped together. I turned to her and winked, causing her to once again giggle. She raised a hand to cover her mouth. Steve raised his eyebrows at the pair of us but didn't say anything.

"Do you have a car?" I asked.

"Of course I have a car," Rogers said, subconsciously looking to his feet.

"You don't have a car," Annabeth guessed. Steve shrugged and pulled a ring of keys from his pocket.

"Ok, so I don't have a car. I prefer to walk places. But I have Tony's keys?" He offered. I grinned; maybe Steve was cooler than I thought.

"When'd you snag his keys?" I asked. Annabeth elbowed me in the gut and gave me a stern look. The look she gave me was the same look I got from everybody in my family when I did something stupid. Which by the way, happened a lot.

I wonder if Nixon got my romantic side or Annabeth's? Neither of us are particularly "romantic," but I have my moments. Either way, Nix didn't really get the best genes for romantically interesting somebody. Wait, I'm supposed to be doing something, aren't I? Oops.

When I lift my head and begin to pay attention again I see Steve staring at me like I've turned into a guinea pig. I hate that look. Annabeth nudged me again, more gently this time.

"What?" Dam you ADHD.

"I said, do you want me to drive?" Steve repeated in an obviously annoyed tone. Oh right, we were going somewhere. I reached for the keys. If we were going to be driving for hours on end, I wanted to drive to keep my ADHD from killing us both.

"Nah, I'll drive. I know the way," I answered. Steve gave me the keys and we made our way into the garage downstairs.

I'll be honest, Stark had some nice rides. I got excited, thinking we were going to ride one of the MANY cool cars, but Steve proudly strode to the only Mazda in the place. When I say Mazda, I don't mean a new one either. I mean this thing was made in the early 2000s and had obviously been in more than its share of troubling situations.

"Really?" I asked, deadpan. Steve smiled and opened the passenger side door. Annabeth pulled from my grip as she laughed and smiled at Steve. Guess I'm riding for an hour in a car that doesn't even have a functioning air conditioning. Great. Did I mention that it's summer?

 _(Hey guys, I'm sorry my writing is off today. A kid I used to know committed suicide last night and I'm kind of a mess last night. I'm still going to be updating daily but if they come a little later, that's why. Thank you guys so much for reading! Comment what you'd like to see next!)_


	11. On The Road Again

Annabeth sat in the passenger seat and held my hand, massaging it slightly as I drove. I was actually great at small talk, especially compared to Annabeth, so I made friendly conversation with Steve as we drove. Every once in a while Annabeth would include something in the conversation but she was looking into the distance as if deep in thought. I let her think.

"So, what happened to Nico?" Steve asked, trying to sound patient. Annabeth looked away from the window and back at me, her grip on my hand tightening significantly. She gave me a reassuring look.

"I'm sure Nico would like to tell you most of this himself so I'll just go over the basics. Zeus tried to kill him and killed his mother instead. Hades got there in time to save Nico and Bianca. he put them in this hotel casino place that basically stops time for like seventy years," I was interrupted before I could finish.

"Wait, Bianca's alive?" Steve yelled so loud that I nearly crashed the car. A pang of guilt ran through my chest and I looked away again. I felt Annabeth next to me. She knew this was a difficult subject for me, so she took over the conversation.

"No. After she and Nico got out of the hotel, she joined the hunters of Artemis." A look of understanding came across his face and pain showered his eyes. He didn't get it; it was my fault. "We were on a quest, she didn't make it out," Annabeth said. She didn't tell him that I had promised to keep her safe. She didn't tell him it was my fault, even though I still thought it was.

"Oh poor Nico, I can't believe," he cut himself off by folding his hands neatly in his lap and looking to his feet.

"I know. Me too."

From there, we drove in silence. I wasn't sure if he didn't want to talk or if I was just making it awkward by not talking. Why do I always have to make things awkward? Annabeth says I get it from my father but I think that was more of her mom talking. I began strumming my fingers against the wheel to try to please my ADHD. It wasn't working. Annabeth tapped her fingers against my calm, which calmed me.

Will and Nico were thinking about living in New Rome for college, but there were still a few people that had a grudge on Nico despite the fact that he saved their lives. Stupid if you ask me. There's also people that don't like Jason and I, but we've got our bromance to keep a positive attitude. And Annabeth of course.

Nico and Will live across the lake from Camp. Seriously, you can see their house from the beach. The easiest way to get there was to go through Camp Half-Blood but I doubted Chiron would appreciate me bringing Steve along through Camp borders. Instead, I decided we'd get as close as we could to the lake and I'd take us the rest of the way. I knew I should probably call ahead and tell Nico that we were coming, but I really wasn't in the mood for a monster attack. Knowing my luck, we'd get attacked anyway.

I'm glad Annabeth was with me.

We got to the road running up to the fields by Camp and I parked and got out of the car.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked. I motioned towards the familiar hill in response.

"Hiking," I answered. The look on his face told me that I hadn't told him all he'd wanted to hear. Oh well. I kept walking. #noregrets

Annabeth walked next to me for part of the way, then apparently got tired because she jumped on my back.

"Wise girlll," I whined, but I really didn't mind. She only laughed, knowing I didn't care.

The hike took a lot longer than it had the first time. Of course, the first time I trekked through these woods I was running for my life trying to process that my best friend was a satyr and that we were being chased by the minotaur. Oh, the memories. I tried not to picture my mom being crushed by the minotaur's hand as we passed Camp's entrance. I gazed over the camp but didn't enter. Trust me, it was tempting.

"Is this where Nico lives?" Steve huffed from behind me. I turned away from Camp and began to walk along its borders to the lake.

"Not quite," I said. "He lived across the lake."

I could feel Steve's miffed glare into the back of my head. I heard him muttering something about not liking boats but didn't pay it much thought. Well lucky for him, we weren't taking a boat. We reached the beach, and I smiled as the waves climbed to encase my feet. My sneakers were getting wet but it didn't bother me. I'd just will them dry later. Annabeth slipped off my back and stepped into the water with a beautiful content smile. The water curled around her toes and they melted beneath the sand.

"Come on!" I called over my shoulder. Steve stood next to me overlooking the water.

"So where's our ride?" He asked, scanning the beach. I grinned and shook my head, then threw my arms into the air.

"Right here!" I motioned towards the water and closed my eyes in concentration. Annabeth was rolled her eyes. I just knew it.

" _Anybody out there? A buddy and I could use a lift, if that's alright."_

I had twelve responses in the next few seconds. I decided to go with the hippocampus and called her over. A shining head scaled horse head emerged from the water and I waved. I spread the water like Moses, creating a path to the hippocampus. When I looked behind me, Steve's jaw had dropped to the open floor. Annabeth ran her fingers along the wall and the fish followed her fingers. Steve peered through the walls of water on either side of us, running into me when I stopped walking.

"Hop on, but mind the fins."


	12. Salsa

When we arrived finally arrived, Will was on the porch getting the newspaper. As soon as the hippocampus dropped us off and I stepped onto the land, Will pulled out a bow and arrow from the mailbox and pointed it directly at my face. Rude. Who keeps a bow and arrow just sitting in their mailbox? I raised my hands in my typical innocent fashion. Ironically, I am rarely ever innocent when I put my hands in the air or tell somebody I'm not doing anything wrong.

"We cometh in peace!" I called. Will lowered his weapon and ran towards me with alarm written clear across his face.

"Who died? Is everything ok? Is the baby coming?" He asked frantically. He would of kept going but noticing Steve's strange look, I cut him off before he could say anything else.

"Nothing happened, we're all ok! And I brought a friend." I stepped away so he could see Mr. America in all his glory. Will stood for a moment before snapping out of his daze, then smiled warmly in recognition and stuck his hand out for Steve to shake.

"I've heard a lot. Please, come in! I'm Will, by the way."

Annabeth greeted Will with a hug and he started asking about the baby as they walked to the door.

Steve leaned closer to me. "Who's that?" he whispered.

"That's Will, Nico's husband."

A giant grin spread across Steve's face and he began to walk with a skip in his step. Did everybody know Nico was into dudes except me? Not cool.

"Will!" We heard as soon as the door closed behind us. "Where's the salsa?"

"Ohh! I want salsa!" I ran to the kitchen in the prospect of food. I was greeted with the blade of my little cousin's sword.

"Jackson, do not touch my food." He warned, sheathing his sword. "What are you doing here?"

I shrugged innocently. Again. "I brought a friend, I figured you two would want to catch up."

Steve stepped into the kitchen and Nico dropped the jar of salsa he'd been holding.

"Steve!" He ran forward and gave Steve a hug, the same kind of hug I gave to my sister after I get home from a dangerous quest. "I'm sorry about the other day,"

Steve smiled, "No need, I get it. I have a lot to tell you."

Nico nodded in agreement. "Me too."

They began talking immediately, sitting at the dining room table as they spoke. Will, Annabeth and I decided we probably had no place in their conversation and headed to the living room. Annabeth excused herself to go to the bathroom, which she did a lot when she was pregnant. I made myself comfortable on the couch while Will brought snacks. Yaassss, snacks.

"How's Annabeth doing? Nothing unusual going on? Percy, did you read that book I got you?" Will asked before he even made it to the couch. I raised my hand to stop him from talking.

"First of all, of course Annabeth is doing well or I wouldn't be here. Nothing strange is going on according to Annabeth but it's all still freaking me out everytime she moves I feel like she's going to break. Don't tell her I told you that."

Will rolled his eyes. "It's almost hard to believe this is your third kid."

My gaze dropped to the floor at the mention of my first child. She was alive, thankfully, but I didn't get to see her as often as I'd like. When Masia was 13, she joined the Hunters of Artemis. Of course, this broke my heart. I was terrified of losing my little girl. I still am. When she told me that she was joining, my thoughts immediately ran to Zoe and Bianca and the countless other hunters that lost their lives. Apparently, Thalia actually tried to talk her about it for my and Annabeth's sakes. Thalia wanted her to join, but she knew how shaken up about it Annabeth and I would be. Masia loved us, but she knew this was what she meant to do. At first, I iris messaged her every single night and went to see her almost every day. After a while, I figured the other campers didn't appreciate Nixon and me coming around so often. I still Iris messaged her as often as I could, but it wasn't enough for me. I missed her. But I knew that Artemis will watch over her, I made her promise on the Styx she would try to keep my daughter safe.

"Yeah, well hopefully there will be more to come."

(time skip)

When Nico and Steve finally finished talking, they were giggling like school girls. Or guys. I mean, everybody giggles. Seriously though. They made Will and I, who were cramming our faces with chips and salsa, seem mature.

"So, what are we going to do about Percy?" Nico's question made me pause in my food-guzzling session.

"What?" I asked, my mouth full of food. Will whacked my arm and muttered something about my bad manners. That's what Annabeth usually does so she smiled at Will in thanks.

Nico rolled his eyes. "You joined the Avengers, we need to figure out a plan." Why must Nico remind me so much of Annabeth sometimes? Not cool dude, not cool!

"Right. Well, I didn't exactly _join_ them," I stopped talking when Nico glared at me. "Fine. Whatever. What are we going to do?" I asked instead. Nico rolled his eyes and went to sit by Will.

"Annabeth and I talked about this, we think that you should do _nothing_. Just don't do anything stupid, don't expose yourself. Just, don't do anything Percy-like," he said. Annabeth nodded in agreement.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Nothing Percy-like?" I think I'm offended. "Wait, when did you talk to Annabeth?"

Nico hasn't come over since Nixon's birthday last spring, so when did he get a chance to talk to Annabeth about me joining the Avengers _yesterday_. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

Nico shrugged and smiled. "We have book club," he answered.

Of course. They had a book club.

"Whatever. I'm not even going to ask. Nick came by the house last night, he had me sign papers and stuff, then told me basically the same thing you did. No stupid stuff and no telling anybody."

Steve raised his hands in a silent motion for me to pause. "Wait, Nick? Nick as in Nicholas Fury?"

Oops. Was I allowed to tell him that? I looked to Annabeth to see if I had done something wrong, but her look was indecisive. She readjusted herself in my arms and I rested my hand on her stomach.

"Well yeah,"

"How do you know Fury?" Steve asked. Nico looked at him like he was just an innocent baby. Well, I guess he kinda was.

"He's a roman kid, goes to one of the Camp," Nico said.

Steve sat in silence for a moment, probably rethinking his entire life. Don't blame him; it happens to me all the time.

"Sweet, so are we done now?" I asked, clapping my hands together. I wanted to go to Mom's house and see my little sister. All this lovey dovey stuff was making my miss my own family. Technically I guess Nico and Will are my family, but that's not what I'm talking about. I wanted to go home and curl up on the couch to watch reality tv with Annabeth and Nixon. Watching Nico and Steve was making me want to go to my Mom's house and see her and my sister.

Nico rolled his eyes at me and nodded. "Yeah, whatever. But give Steve our phone number and address." Will nodded in approval and smiled at Nico. Could they stop being lovey dovey for two seconds? I looked down at Annabeth in my arms and decided we probably weren't any better.

"Nico, my house at 12 next week for _A Spool of Blue Thread_?"

Of course they had a dam book club.


	13. Mama Jackson (The Real MVP)

After listening to Steve blabber on about Nico and all the fun times they had together for the entire car ride home, I was getting pretty tired of him. I was ready to boot Steve out the back window and put the gas peddle to the floor. Instead, I patiently waited until we got back to the Avengers tower, then dropped him off. Then I sped off like a maniac with Annabeth shaking her head in the seat next to me.

#noregrets

My mom's house was actually not that far away from the tower, giving me a five-minute ride to calm down after spending so long cooped up in the car.

"Did you Iris Message Sally and tell her coming?" Annabeth asked. Oops.

"Uh, was I supposed to?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You're supposed to give fair warning before you randomly show up at someone's house, Percy. What if they're out at dinner or something?"

I shrugged.

"How would you feel if people randomly showed up at our house like that?" She added. Now it was my turn to roll my eyes.

"Have you met our friends?" I pointed out. "Leo shows up at three in the morning at least twice a month and the Stolls consider our place to be a 5-star hotel."

She laughed at this, unable to find a disagreeing point. I loved moment like this. Just Annabeth and me, talking. We weren't kissing or fighting for our lives for the time being. Don't get me wrong, I love kissing her, but she was still my best friend and talking to her was one of the best things in the world. Better than blue food.

"Percy, we're here," Annabeth shut down my train of thought by stopping me from driving by the house I lived in for nineteen years. How could I have lived in the same place for so long, yet still miss the turn to get there every single time?

Annabeth and I decided that we didn't want to move too far away from Mom and Camp, so we got our little house in New York, about a fifteen-minute drive from Camp Half-Blood and semi-close to Mom's apartment on the upper East side.

As I pulled up to the apartment complex, I parked the car and remembered to lock the doors. It wasn't a great neighborhood. Annabeth and I climbed the stairs to the third floor with our hands intertwined. Anticipation grew in my chest. I had seen my mom last week but I still felt like this every time we saw her. My mom was the only person that had been constant throughout my entire life. Annabeth entered the picture when I was 12 but my mom? She's been here for me since the day I was born. I rapped my knuckles against the door. I had a key, but I forgot it at home.

"Percy!" Her sweet voice enveloped me almost as soon as her open arms did. She hadn't worked at the candy shop in many years but still somehow managed to smell like sweets. My mom was magical.

"Hey Mom," I greeted her with a lopsided grin and a kiss on the cheek.

My mom pulled away to give Annabeth a hug. "And Annabeth! Oh, my dear it's so good to see you! How's the baby doing?"

That's the first thing everybody asked when they saw us. How's the baby doing? The baby is fine! You would know if anything was wrong!

"Perc?" My little sister stepped into the room with a confused glance. "Percy!" Mirra was in her third year of high school so I didn't get to see her often. She jumped into my arms and wrapped her legs around my waist so I fell down. "You became an Avenger?! Why didn't you tell me?! I know all about the Avengers! I-,"

"Well, I didn't exactly know," I cut her off. "I became part of the team on accident. And why aren't you at school?" I added. She rolled her eyes dramatically, something she totally didn't get from me.

"It's parent-teacher conference week, no school." She excused, crawling off of me and tugging me to my feet. "How do you accidently become an Avenger?" She asked. Annabeth scoffed as if to say "Yeah, that's what I want to know."

I shrugged innocently and tried not to meet her eyes. "It's um, a long story," my voice raised a couple octaves as I tried to avoid the topic. I knew she'd laugh at me.

She plopped herself down on the couch and my mother looked at me expectantly. Mom was worried. She was always worried about me. I wanted to assure her that everything I did was 100% safe, but I feel like if I did then the fates would drop a piano on my head just to prove a point. Annabeth leaned into my arm.

"You know she's never going to let this go," she whispered.

So I sighed, took a deep breath, and told them everything."So I was at work when this crazy lunatic tries to take a selfie and fell into the shark tank..."

 _(Hey peeps! Sorry for the short update but I'm getting ready for Easter with my family tomorrow so I don't have a lot of time. Please comment what you don't like and what you'd like to see next and I'll try to include it in future chapters. Thank you!)_


	14. James Buchanan Barnes? Wait a minute

Mirra liked Tony. She thought he was funny. I tried to convince her that I wouldn't be in this mess in the first place if he hadn't tried to take a selfie with the sharks but she only laughed.

"So when do I get to meet the team?" She asked. Annabeth smiled knowingly at me and got up to help my mom with dinner.

I sighed at Mirra and shook my head. "You're not. Nixon was already in a fight with gunmen and I've only been in this thing for like a day. I almost quit twice already, so sorry Mir but you're not going to meet the Avengers. At least not yet anyway," I said. Mirra crossed her arms and pouted at me but thankfully let it go.

"Whatever. But I still want either a picture of you with them, or their autographs," she countered. Why did I let Annabeth spend so much time with Mirra? Now they were _both_ smarter than me.

"Percy, shouldn't you probably get back to work? You've missed almost your entire first day and you're still wearing your aquarium uniform," Annabeth pointed out. I looked down at my uniform, smiling awkwardly at the name tag. Well how was I supposed to know I wasn't working at the aquarium today?

"Yeah, but I don't really want to go," I said. Annabeth and Mirra simultaneously rolled their eyes while my mom smiled from the the doorway. She knew I was going to go and was already waiting to say goodbye. My mom knew me better than I did.

I sighed and grudgingly got up off the couch. I helped Annabeth up and we made our way to the door.

"Bring me a picture!" Mirra shouted. I rolled my eyes.

"Be safe, honey. Both of you," Mom said. I gave her a hug, taking her all in before we left. You know how some people are just, good huggers? My mom was one of those people. Anytime you hugged her you felt like you were made me feel so important, so loved. The gods never made me feel as wanted as my mother's hugs did. I reluctantly pulled away and we headed back down to the car.

"I worked with Nicholas, we've updated a fake backstory into your profile. I'm going to need you to study it and memorize as much as you can so you don't expose yourself," said when we got back onto the road.

I groaned. "But Wise Girl! That's a lot of work!"

She slapped my arm. "I'll help you study, but you're making me dinner."

 **(TIME SKIP)**

I dropped Annabeth off at the house before heading back to the tower. Steve was delighted to see me. Apparently Nico had put him in a good mood because I swear, that dude would _not_ stop smiling. Steve's undying grin made me avoid looking at him. He reminded me of Jason after he found out about Will and Nico.

"Why are you wearing an aquarium uniform?" Clint Barton asked. I groaned and sunk myself into the chair I was sitting in.

"Because I got confused!" I explained _again_. Why were people so caught up in the uniform? I kind of like it. I felt important when I was wearing the uniform, like I had a real purpose. I know that sounds stupid because I obviously have a purpose, I mean where would the gods be now if I didn't?

"Whatever man, but that is _not_ going to be your Avengers uniform," Clint added. I saw Natasha roll her eyes. I really don't think she likes me. I decided to ignore them both and went to the kitchen to find some food. Will's chips and salsa was not enough to satisfy me.

Steve was in the kitchen already making a cup of coffee. "Percy," he said, getting my attention. "Thank you for bringing me to see Nico, I really appreciate it."

I smiled. "No problem man, anytime," I answered. I was serious though. If Steve showed up at my house at three in the morning, wanting to see Nico, I'd bring him. I felt bad that they'd spent so much time apart and I wanted to help bring them back together. It reminded me of when Hera took my memory and sent me to Camp Jupiter. I would have gone the easy way to Hades' realm if she had died. I say easy because going to the underworld when you're alive is not an easy task. Trust me on this one.

"If only Bucky was here to see him," Steve added with a wistful sigh. I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Sucks that he's still iced or in a coma or wherever he is," I said, using what Nico had told me to contribute the conversation. Steve furrowed his eyebrows and frowned.

"What? You know Bucky is, dead. Right?" Steve asked.

"No, he's not,"

We stared at each other. Steve's heartbroken look caused me to shut up.

"Percy, Bucky died decades ago, he's not with us anymore," Steve said slowly.

I took my turn to frown. "Nico says he isn't dead. Nico usually isn't wrong when it comes to these things."

"Nico says he isn't in the underworld?" Steve's voice dropped to a whisper.

"Well yeah, we thought you knew this!" I whisper-yelled back. Steve's faced morphed into an expression I don't even try to name.

"Dude," I didn't really have anything else to say.

Steve ran from the room, yelling over his shoulder, "Call Nico and Fury! I need them both here _now_!"

Dude.

 _(Happy Easter, if you celebrate that! I've spent the whole day at my grandparent's house with family so I stayed up until 11:00 to write this update. Tomorrow's update should be much longer... Please comment what you'd like to see next and I'll try to include it in future chapters. Thank you!)_


	15. I don't get killed by Will!

Will was pissed. More specifically, Will was pissed at me. Making Nico shadow travel once was one thing, but twice in the same week? I thought the dude was going to shoot me in the face. Will already didn't like me because I ended up in the infirmary at least once a week and he always had to fix me. So yeah, Will was pretty annoyed with me. He loved Annabeth though, of course.

But when it came to Nico, Will was more protective than I am. He hated it when Nico used his "underworldy stuff" because it totally drained him, so this time he refused to let Nico shadow travel. Now it was going to take them even longer to get to the Avengers tower (we've already been waiting for half an hour). Will didn't let me tell Nico what was going on because if he had known, nothing would have stopped him from shadow traveling back to New York. He never quite recovered from the war against Gaia. Don't get me wrong, he still _can_ shadow travel, just not as much and not as far as he used to. Ok, actually I guess that's a lie. He still can, but he isn't allowed to. Will won't let him. Like I said; _protective_.

"Jackson," Nicholas Fury greeted me with a cold stare. He was actually a nice guy but wanted to keep his "scary, mysterious" demeanor up for Steve.

"Collins," I returned, mocking his glare. Fury began to turn red and quickly turned away as I snorted into my coffee. Ha. Ginny Collins is a girl at Camp Jupiter that good ol' Nick had a little crush on a couple of years ago. Don't ask me how I know this. It was totally not Piper. Totally.  
Steve and I sat at the counter in the kitchen with our coffee. I knew I shouldn't drink caffeine with my ADHD but too late now! Steve didn't even drink his, which was good because he was fidgety enough as it was.

When the door burst open I didn't even bother to look. The sound of Nico's punk rock boots and Will's orthopedic sneakers were easy enough to recognize. Nico's glare bore into my soul and he growled, "Jackson I am _so_ going to kick your a-"

"Language!" Will interrupted him. Nico rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically.  
"Whatever. What do you want?" Nico crossed his arms and stuck his foot out in a sarcastic position. Oh, no you don't honey. _I'm_ the supreme king of sass. Hades, I sound like Leo.

"Bucky is dead, Percy says you say he isn't," Steve got straight to the point. Nico froze. Well there goes any chance of friendly conversation.

"Wait, Bucky Barnes?" Will asked. Steve nodded quickly in clarification.

"He's _not_ in the underworld," Nico said. His eyes went wild and he grasped Will's arm. Steve looked desperate for something to hold onto and his knuckles turned white against the counter.

"He's not _here_!" Steve insisted. Simultaneously, all three of them turned to Fury while I glanced awkwardly between them.

"We need to get everybody involved and find him. Immediately." Steve's voice had deepened into a tone of power and leadership. He wasn't asking, he was giving an order.

Nick Fury stared at me as if I could fix the situation, then sighed and said, "No."

Nico's eyebrows shot up in a mixture of confusion and anger. "No?!" he shouted. Will set a hand on his shoulder to calm him but it barely made a difference.

"We can't devastate our limited resources on a man who may or may not have been presumed dead for the past 70 years," Fury said. Nico lunged towards him but was held back by Nico. They stared at each other for a moment as if having a silent conversation, then Will nodded and let him go. Nico turned angrily and stomped towards Fury, grabbed him roughly by the arm, and dragged him into another room. Steve went to follow, but Will raised an arm to stop him.

"No, don't follow. He'll take care of it, the mission is definitely going to happen. I can promise you that."

Fury's in for it now. You do _not_ want to get on Nico's bad side, especially when Will is backing him up. Seriously.

Thor was off in Asgard, Clint was wherever he spent his free time, Natasha was probably killing somebody, and Tony was at some kind of fundraiser showing off his money, so the living room was empty and I got the whole couch to myself score. Score! Steve suggested we played video games (I thought he was a little old for that).

"I can't really play video games, or use electronics at all," I explained. Realization dawned across his face.

"Oh, I forgot about that,"

It went silent. I got bored. I wish Annabeth was here and not back at home, but she had to get some work done so now I was all by my lonesome self. The ten minutes I spent waiting for Nico and Fury to finish talking was a very long ten minutes. So of course I did the normal thing, I took a nap.

"So, Nico briefed me on your first couple years at that camp you guys go to." Steve said out of the blue. Dam you Nico. I shrugged, not sure what to say or how to respond to that. "Did you really hold the actual world on your shoulders?"

I wanted to be mad at Nico, but I had it coming. "Well, yeah but I mean, Atlas and Annabeth did it first," I excused.

This caused Steve to raise his eyebrows. He scoffed and sat up in his chair to face me. "So basically, your logic is that if they do it then it must be ok for you to do," he said.

I shrugged. "Well," I sighed. "No. I mean yes, but well, yeah?"

"If your friends jumped off, then would you too?" He joked. I flinched and smiled awkwardly.

"Well, that's kind of a funny story. Well not funny, but it's a story all right."

 _(Hi peeps! Comment what you'd like to see next and I'll try to include it in future chapters :) thank you!)_


	16. I'm ready for a nap

Nico exited the room with a look of accomplishment. Fury wasn't with him. Will had been waiting outside the door so already had his arm slung Nico's shoulders.

"So?" Steve asked, looking for an outcome. Nico smirked.

'We're doing this and we've got backup from SHEILD, but we've got to set it up by ourselves. Percy, we're going to need help," Nico said. Wait, what's that supposed to mean?

"What do you mean by that?" I asked. Nico rolled his eyes and turned dramatically to Will.

"He's saying that we could use help from our, family," Will cautiously added.

"Why are you talking like that? Don't you just mean Cam-"

"Percy!" Will hissed, interrupting me. He leaned forward, whispering right next to my ear. "Have you met Stark? There are most likely cameras and audio recorders capturing everything we're doing. Shut up," he warned. Oh, that was a good point. Dam, I wish Annabeth was here.

"Ok, fine. But I don't want to put more people in danger than we have to. Most of the people there are kids," I said. Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter were full of kids. The gods were claiming more kids than they ever had, especially now that the Greek and Roman sides can easily communicate. I didn't want to put those kids in danger. Every time we got into another war or we lost another camper, I felt guilty. A lot of kids died in the war with Gaia, and we still haven't found many of the bodies. I had wanted to go to the underworld and apologize to each of the personally, but Annabeth and Nico didn't let me. I didn't want to drag them into this too.

"I think there's a particular group we can get to help us," Nico hinted. Yeah, I had no idea what he was talking about. I stared blankly at him and Will face-palmed. Steve looked even more confused than I did. Who was a particular group we could go to for help? I assumed he was talking about demigods, but who? Was he talking about one of the camps?

"The Seven, you absolute idiot!" Nico hissed. Ohhhh, that makes more sense. Why didn't he just say that in the first place? I'd rather have the Seven helping with this than the kids at Camp, but I promised myself I wouldn't let any of them get hurt. They've got families, people to care for. I promised myself that I wasn't going to let that be taken away.

"Right. Wait, what about the kids?" I asked. You see, there were a lot of kids in the second generation of the Seven. You didn't think I was the only one with kids, did you? Hazel and Frank (Leo calls them Frazel) have got little toddler twins who are three years old and have already nearly killed me twice, Piper and Jason have got nine-year-old Felicity and four-year-old Reyna, and Leo and Calypso (she took a long time to get used to) have got a twelve-year-old named Caleo. Yes. Leo actually named his child Caleo. Calypso didn't think anything of the name and Piper finally told her what a ship name was five years later. I swear, he came closer to death on that day than he ever did with Gaia. Besides the Seven, almost all of my friends are starting families. Grover's daughter went through school and was starting college next year, while also juggling her duties as a protector (like her dad!) She brings claimed and unclaimed kids camp and is raising awareness and rights for fawns at the Roman camp.

"Percy, we literally have two camps full of willing babysitters. I think we've got that covered. Also, it's nearly 3:30," Nico said. Oh, schist! I've got to pick up Nixon!

(time skip)

When I got to the school, Nixon wasn't waiting outside for me like he usually was. This shouldn't have concerned me, but I've been on edge since the whole Avengers fiasco began. I didn't want to call him because that would just put him in danger. Instead, I parked the car and made my way to the school. I'm already late, and Nixon is usually early so I decided to go inside and make sure he hadn't lost track of time in the library again. The school was full of teenagers, none of which looked happy. I knew where the library was because I've had to fetch Nixon many times. In the library, I was surprised to see Nixon's usual table completely empty.

"I still don't understand how you read so much with your dyslexia, isn't it hard?"

There were only two people in the library, one of which had just spoken. The boy had bushy orange hair that he'd apparently tried to comb to the side. He had freckles splattered across his face like specks of paint and he was smiling like a son of Apollo. He had a pair of thin rectangular black glasses perched on the end of his nose but the stack of books in his arms prevented him from pushing them up the bridge of his nose. Beside him, Nixon was laughing and skimming over the back cover of a book he'd pulled off the shelf before stacking it on top of the pile in the red-heads arms. The stranger noticed me first and he froze, mid-chuckle.

"Mr. Jackson!" He greeted quickly and nervously. So this must be Alec. I smiled and approached them. Alec stuck his hand out, obviously not thinking the action through and dropping the stack of books. He jumped and bent to pick the books up. "I'm sorry!" He yelped. I like this guy.

"No problem, here let me help you with that," I said, crouching to help. Nixon was blushing bright red, like Annabeth did when she got flustered.

"Dad! What are you doing here?" He asked. I pointed at the clock on the wall.

"School got out almost half an hour ago," I answered. Nixon's face contorted in confusion and alarm and he checked the clock himself.

"Styx! I'm sorry! I got carried away and,"

"Don't worry about it, I was late anyway," I interrupted him. "And who's this?" I asked, turning back to the flustered boy besides my son.

"Oh! I'm Alec, sir, Alec Spencer," he stuttered.

I grinned and shook his hand. "Please, call me Percy. It's great to meet you," I said. I tried not to seem like a creepy dad. "So, Nixon, you ready to head home or want me to wait in the car?" I asked. Nixon glanced at the other boy, who nodded.

"Uh, I'll meet you outside in a minute," he hinted. His glare told me to leave, so that's what I did. I smiled at Alec, then turned on my heel and left the library. Then looked through the window to watch them. Hey, don't judge!

Alec said something that made Nixon laugh, then helped him put the large stack of books neatly in his bag. Alec walked him to the library door, where they stopped, said something, and embraced. I wish I could hear what they were saying. Alec handed him his backpack and hugged him one last time before Nixon left. I watched Alec's wistful smile for a moment, then heard the library door open and bolted for the car.

"Were you watching us?" Nixon asked when he got to the car. Oops.

"...no,"

He rolled his eyes. "That's believable," he said. I'll admit, I've never been very good at sneaking. Obviously.

 _(Hola people! Thanks for reading and commenting! Comment what you'd like to see next and I'll try to include it in future chapters. Any questions will be answered in the next chapter. I hope you all had a great day!)_


	17. Really getting to meet Alec Spencer

Nixon was smiling like an idiot (or like me) the entire ride home. I would ask him questions about his day and he would only hum in response.

"So, how was school?"

"Hmm," came his happy hum.

"So, got any big tests or anything coming up?"

"Hm." He still gazed day-dreamingly out the window. I guess that meant yes.

"So, what was it that Alec wanted to tell you?" I asked. He actually turned his head this time, blushing furiously. Ok then, don't tell me. "Niiiix?" I prodded. He rolled his eyes but the smile was still prominent on his face.

"He wanted to ask if he could meet my family, and he was asking if I was ready for that and ok with it and stuff," he said quietly. I grinned at the adorabley sheepish look on his face.

And of course, this lead to me making a very spontaneous decision. Probably not a good idea. "Invite him over for dinner!" I insisted. This is why Annabeth doesn't let me make decisions. Nixon's mouth dropped open.

"What?"

"Bring him over for dinner tonight," I repeated. Nixon slowly smiled and nodded. Oh, Annabeth was going to _love_ this.

(time skip)

It had been a long day so by the time we got home, I was ready for a nap. Nixon had called Alec on the ride home (don't worry, I kept an eye out for monsters and made sure to be on the move) and asked him to come over for dinner, to which Alec gracefully accepted. We still hadn't told Annabeth that he was coming over. I was actually pretty excited for Alec to come over. I needed a break from this whole Avengers thing and the demigod life in general. When we got to the house, I noticed another car up front. Will's car. I feel like I may have missed something.

Inside, Annabeth was sitting at the dining room table with Will and Nico.

"Uncle Nico! Uncle Will!" Nixon shoved past me to give his godfathers a hug.

"Not that I don't enjoy seeing you guys or anything, but what are you doing here?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. Nico rolled his eyes and ignored me, choosing to start up a conversation with Annabeth and Nixon instead. Rude.

"We stopped over to say hi to Annabeth and give the baby a checkup and she invited us to stay for dinner," Will explained.

"She said you were cooking!" Nico called over his shoulder. Oh, well that's not really a good thing…

"Uh, Wise girl?"

When she turned to face me her hair bounced over her shoulder, causing me to momentarily forget what I was saying.

"Percy, who did you invite over?" She asked knowingly. How does she always know? I looked to Nixon, unsure if he wanted me to tell her or not. Thankfully, he stepped forward and forgoed the need to decipher what the look on his face was telling me to do.

"Alec. Dad met him today and Alec had asked if he could meet you guys, so he invited him over," Nixon said with ease. The annoyed look melted from Annabeth's face and she looked at me in approval. Score. Wait, Annabeth already knew about Alec? I am always the last person to find out about _everything_!

"Well if we want to have dinner ready by the time he gets here, your dad had better start cooking," she said with a smirk. I frowned and looked longingly towards the couch.

"But, I wanted to take a nap," I complained. Annabeth smiled sweetly and pecked me on the cheek.

"Sorry Seaweed brain, get to work."

I guess this was my punishment for not consulting her before inviting somebody over.

Everybody made themselves comfortable in the living room, on the couch I _should_ be napping on, while I began to make dinner. Contrary to popular belief, I'm actually a pretty decent cook. After we got back from the war against Gaea, I started spending some time by myself in Camp Jupiter's kitchen. Camp Jupiter doesn't have a kitchen, you say? Ah on the contrar! There are tens of restaurants in New Rome, and nobody really minded if I snuck in the back to take a break. You see, I never really recovered from Tartarus. Neither did Annabeth. I loved her with all my heart but for a while, after the war was over, I really needed some time along where I could break down without her knowing how bad it really was for me. I wanted to be her support, her shoulder to cry on, but it was hard to do that if she was busy worrying about me. I still have nightmares. I didn't want Annabeth to find out because I knew she'd worry and she wouldn't stop looking for something to help me, but she'd drive herself to insanity trying. But I wasn't alone in this, one night after a particularly bad dream, I went out to the back porch and let it all out. Masia, who is a very light sleeper like her mother, had woken up from the sound of the door opening. She found me on the back porch and sat down with me, not saying a word. I don't know if she knew what was happening or if she just knew that I needed someone, but she put her arms around me and let me cry. From then on, every night I had a nightmare, Masia would come outside with me and sit. After a while, I decided that she had the right to know why I was disturbing her sleep. Nixon was just a baby at the time so I didn't want to stress Annabeth out any more than I had to, so I only told Masia. Every night, she would ask me what I'd dreamed about. I don't know how it helped, but telling her actually helped me. After she left, I got worse. On really bad nights, I still Iris message her and she doesn't say anything, just lets me talk. She suggested I find something to do to distract myself, like a hobby or something. So back to New Rome's kitchens I went.

But Annabeth still doesn't know why I know how to cook.

 **...**

I was nearly done with the mashed potatoes when there was a knock at the door. I turned to get the door but Nixon bolted from his seat faster than I could put down the spatula. He opened the door so quickly I was worried he'd tear the dam thing from its hinges. I quickly finished the potatoes and turned around to greet Alec. His hair looked like he'd attempted to gel it down and as I knew from personal experience, it was only going to last a couple more minutes. He stuck out his hand, thankfully not while holding a stack of books this time, and said hello.

"Nice to see you again," I said.

He smiled graciously. "Thank you, you too Mr. Jackson," he shook my hand.

"Percy," I corrected. He nodded in acknowledgment but I could tell it wasn't going to stick. I _still_ called Annabeth's dad Mr. Chase, although I guess her situation is a little different than ours. Annabeth rose from the couch to greet our guest and Alec's face reddened with his nerves. Nixon brushed his arm across him and he calmed down.

Nixon introduced the pair, "Mom, this is Alec, Alec, this is my mom,"

"Mrs. Jackson, it's so nice to finally meet you," Alec said. Annabeth smiled in her usual beautiful way. I nearly burned the pork chops watching her. Will dragged Nico to his feet and practically hauled him forward to meet Alec.

"Hi! You must be Alec! I'm Will and this is my husband, Nico," Will greeted cheerfully. Alec tried to hide his surprise at the couple but I noticed his smile grow a little wider.

"They're my godfathers," Nixon mentioned. I noticed Alec calm down a bit and decided that it was probably a good thing that Nico and Will had stayed for dinner.

"Nice to meet you," he said, shaking each of their hands.

I set the stack of plates on the table. "Who's hungry?" I called, getting the attention of everybody in the room.

 _(Hi! Please comment if you guys want to read about the dinner or want me to skip ahead to afterward. Also, comment what you'd like to see next and I'll try my best to include it in future updates. Thanks for reading!)_


	18. A NORMAL dinner

Dinner was going a lot less awkward than my first dinner with the Chase family had gone. Alec immediately hit it off with Will and the two spent almost half an hour talking about his archery lessons. Nixon looked the happiest I'd ever seen him. The smile never left his face, and looking at him made me forget all about the stupid Avengers Initiative. Alec was telling jokes and stupid puns that nearly made me fall from my chair the entire meal. I already loved him; he appreciated the true greatness of puns and dad jokes and was on my side on almost everything. I could tell that Annabeth liked him too by the way she smiled and how her eyes twinkled when Alec's gaze met Nixon's. I missed seeing Nixon happy like this.

After Masia left, Nixon had a depressive period. Well, we all did but Nixon's was just a little more prominent than ours. Annabeth and I at least had each other, but Nixon's big sister had just walked out on him to join an immortal group of hunters. I didn't recognize the familiarity of the situation until Nico came to me in tears and begged me not to let her leave. Nico tried to convince her to stay, speaking from his own experience, but she couldn't be swayed. Nico didn't talk about Biana very often, so when he did you knew it was a very serious situation. He loved Masia as his own daughter and had been even more broken up than I was when she left. I think she reminded him of Bianca.

But again, Nico at least had Will to lean on. We were always there for Nixon, but we were only his parents, not Masia. We couldn't replace her, we didn't want to. Masia spoke to Nixon nearly every day and we knew she was, for the most part, safe, but there would always be a small tug at my heart, a worry that would never go away. Knowing every day that it could be your child's last is the second most terrifying thing that I've ever felt. The thing was, it wasn't even _terror_ really. It was just a small fear in the back of my mind, but it was always there. There wasn't a second that went by that a little voice in my head wasn't questioning whether she was on or not she was ok. It was times like this when I was glad Apollo's attempt to recreate his twin's hunters with boys failed. Not even a week after my wedding to Annabeth, Apollo came down to ask me if I'd be the first to join his "pursuers." Like dude, really? He may or may not have forgotten about Annabeth. I swear, sometimes that dude is denser than I am.

...

Besides the offerings that I'd burned while I was cooking, we were just a normal family, having a normal dinner.

Well, until Piper Iris messaged me in the middle of dinner. Yeah, that kind of put a damper on the whole "normal dinner" thing. I mean, the mist usually hid these kinds of things from mortals like Alec so I wasn't worried, but it still kinda ruined my normal dinner.

"Percy! Sorry to call so late- wait, are Will and Nico there too? Perfect! Ok, so Annabeth called earlier about your little situation with the Avengers and said you guys need a place to meet up and plan. It just so happens that Dad's in Washington for a movie shoot so I've got the place to myself for two weeks. Well, Hedge is here but I'm sure he won't bother us too much," she said. I groaned and nodded, regretfully setting down my fork and answering her.

"Yeah yeah, that works. When do you want us over?" I asked. I heard a gasp from the other end of the table.

I think Aphrodite might still be pissed off that I forgot Annabeth's and my anniversary last month (yes, I know it's my birthday, don't remind me how much of an idiot I am,) because she was apparently doing everything she could to sabotage Nixon's relationship. In other words, the mist didn't work.I repeat: the mist _didn't work_.

How, may you ask, did I know this? Well, Alec's eyes were as big as cyclops eyes and he dropped his fork onto the floor, staring at the space in front of me where Piper's face appeared.

"Uh, Pipes, I'm going to need to call you later," without looked away from Alec, I swiped my hand through her head and the message disappeared.

"Wha-what, what was that?" Alec's stutter came back. Nixon looked at Annabeth and me helplessly. I didn't know what to do. Thankfully, Annabeth did. Annabeth always knew.

"Nixon, I think you and Alec should talk. Privately," she suggested. Nixon swallowed and he went pale. He nodded and slowly pulled out his chair and got up.

"Al, uh, can I talk to you?"

Alec looked wildly between Nixon and Annabeth, still stuttering nonsense. Finally, he stood and let Nixon pull him gently into the living room. I watched them intently, racking my mind for something, anything I could do or say that would help. I had nothing. Like usual

I couldn't hear them, but I could see Nixon talking slowly and awkwardly motioning with his arms as he spoke. Alec was frozen in place. His orange hair had fallen out of place and was in his eyes but he didn't fix it. Every once in awhile I could see his lips move as he spoke but for the most part, he stayed silent. Nixon looked like he was hyperventilating. Annabeth rested her hand on mine and gave me a look to leave them alone. Nobody at the table spoke. We were all too busy trying to decode how Nixon and Alec's conversation was going. Many minutes later and it seemed that Nixon had finally run out of things to say, only explaining himself with a few small extra details. How would I have told Annabeth about the gods if she had been mortal? She's smart enough that she probably would have figured it out anyway so I guess I wouldn't have that much of a problem.

Suddenly, Alec was wiping tears from his cheeks with his shirt sleeve and running from the house. Before I could react, he was out the front door and gone. Nixon was left in the living room, looking like somebody had just torn his heart from his chest. I quickly stood and rushed towards him.

"Nixon, what'd he say, are you ok?" I gently sat him down on the couch. Nixon stared at the floor blankly and shrugged.

"I don't know, dad. He just said he needed to sort this all out, then apologized and ran out the door. I just, I don't know," he whispered.

" _Normal dinner_ " my fed-up-demigod-ass.

 _(Hey guys! I just began a new story on the next generation called "Saving the Seven" about what the seven's kids do to save their parents when they go missing, so check that out if it sounds interesting to you :) I update both books daily, although quite late most of then time. Thank you!)_


	19. I got a god on call

Instead of venturing their way home in the dark, Will and Nico stayed in the guest bedroom for the night. Annabeth told me to have a snack and go sleep while she talked to Nixon about all that had happened with Alec. I wanted to help but Annabeth's suggestion sound very appealing, so I made myself a sandwich and stole a few cookies from the cupboard before going to sleep.

(Time skip)

I didn't have nightmares that night, which was good because Annabeth was awake nearly the whole night. Piper Iris messaged me again the next morning to tell us to meet her at her dad's house later today. One problem, The McLean mansion is in Nevada. Shadow travel was out of the question and Mrs. O'Leary couldn't carry all of us, so I needed to find us a ride. So I decided to call my cousin.

When the Iris message to Apollo popped up, he was watching Doctor Who on his godly flat-screen.

"Apollo!" I yelled as loudly as I could to get his attention and hopefully scare him in the process. I succeeded in both.

"Perseus! Not cool, man! What do you want?" He paused his tv show and stared at me expectantly.

"We need a ride to Nevada," I said, not bothering to explain. He groaned, sending wistful glances at the tv. I raised my eyebrows. After I found his car keys last week (And yes, I mean the keys to his chariot. No, I didn't know his chariot had keys either.) he owed me. Regrettably, Doctor Who would have to wait.

"Finnneee," he groaned. "I'll be there in five." Apollo glared at me one last time and swished his hand through the Iris message. Once it was over, I got up to tell Annabeth. I found her making coffee in the kitchen. She was wearing one of my t-shirts and pajama shorts. Beautiful. I snaked my arms around her waist and rested my chin on her shoulder.

"Good morning Seaweed brain," she said.

I yawned and explained the situation, "Morning Wise girl."

"PDA!" Will whisper-yelled from the living room. Nico was sound asleep in his lap so I really hoped he was joking. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"I talked to Apollo, he's going to be here in a couple minutes to give us a ride to Piper's place," I told them. Will nodded and began to gently wake Nico up.

Annabeth turned to me, her fiery grey eyes bearing into my skull. "Five minutes? Percy, I haven't gotten anything ready!" She quickly rushed from the room, leaving me to finish the coffee. I didn't understand what she meant by saying she " _Hasn't gotten anything ready_ ," she spent twenty minutes getting maps and blueprints and researching Steve's and his friends Bucky's background information to see what could have happened to him. Nothing ready, huh?

When I heard a loud crash in my backyard, I decided that we should probably get a helipad.

"Percy Jackson if that god destroyed Masia's rose garden you are going to _personally_ replant every plant in the back yard!" Annabeth yelled from somewhere in her office. Nico walked into the kitchen looking more like a zombie than the corpses he often raised in battle.

Apollo's cheery voice sang a terribly tune from outside. "Sorry I crushed your flowers, Perc!"

Greeeaat. Annabeth re-entered the room with a pointed look on her face. She had on a pair of navy blue jeans and a loose fitting t-shirt, and of course her outfit was not complete without the dagger strapped to her thigh. She looked just as gorgeous as ever, smirk and all. Will and Nico were already outside.

"Percy," she said.

I answered with a simple, "Yes?"

"Get dressed."

Oh right, I was still wearing pajamas. She rolled her eyes and went outside to talk to Apollo.

When I was finally dressed and ready to go, I found Apollo trying to flirt with Annabeth outside. HA, nice try dude. Even the _gods_ should know not to flirt with Annabeth Jackson.

You ever see a god get judo flipped? Pretty entertaining.

"Can we just get this show on the road?" I whined, "I'm bored already!"

"Me too, we should hurry,"

I jumped at the sound of Nixon's voice, causing him to smirk in satisfaction.

"Dude, you don't just scare people like that! Not cool!"

Annabeth glared at the both of us and pointed back towards the house.

"Nixon Grover Jackson you go back inside right now!" She said in her mom-voice that Nixon and I were both all too familiar with. I exchanged a glance with my son and knew exactly how this was going down. Nico gave me a look that said he did too. He leaned back, looking like he needed a bowl of popcorn or something.

"Mom, you know I'm a lot like you and Dad. If you guys leave to go do something that's possible dangerous and going to for sure help Nico, then I'm coming whether you like it or not. If I don't come with you now I'll just get there some other way that will probably be more dangerous. Like, say, getting a ride on an old zoo truck with a zebra, antelope, and starving lion," he suggested. Annabeth glared at him.

I heard Will whisper, "buurrrnnn," under his breath but point to me when Annabeth looked at him.

"He has a good point," I said. She glared at me too.

Nixon looked at me and shrugged, then jumped into the chariot and gave Hermes a high five.

"All right! Now I've got three Jackson's on board. I'm like, a celebrity or something."

I decided not to point out that technically there were four of us. Nixon poked his head over the side of the chariot as we lifted off and I took hold of his arm. Just in case. Annabeth took my other hand and leaned comfortably into me.

 _(Hey guys! I'm so so sorry I didn't update yesterday but something came up. I began to feel very sick and vomiting up a lot of blood and my parents had to take me to the hospital. I spent the night there and have been heavily sedated for most of the time so I haven't had a lot of time to update. I've been diagnosed with Cdiff so I'll be home for a long while, which means at least I'll have a lot of time to write and update. Thanks for bearing with me! Like usual, comment what you'd like to see next and I'll try to include it in future chapters. Thanks!)_


	20. The McLean Mansion

For once, the chariot ride was uneventful. Will tried to get a better look at a bird and nearly fell out but Nico caught him so it's good. Also, Annabeth let me fall as we were flying so that was also good. Not so good, Nixon smacked my in the face to wake me up. Such a caring son, am I right?

"Dad, get up!" he whined, pushing me onto the chariots floor. I whined and slapped his arms away like a toddler.

"Seaweed brain, get up," Annabeth warned in her _I-am-about-to-make your-life-living-Hades_ voice. I groggily sat back up to avoid punishment. Annabeth hit a lot harder than Nixon did.

"Alrighty kids, imma drop you off so I can get back to work. I have important business to attend to back on Olympus," Apollo said, winking at me over his shoulder. Important business. Sure.

The McLean house isn't even really a house. It's a mansion. They a full size library _and_ museum type-exhibition room _and_ a swimming pool. Although Piper and Jason have their own place now, I don't blame them for wanted to spend a lot of time at her dad's. Plus, it was the only space big enough for everybody to be able to work without going crazy. Last time we all met up to get something done (we were just getting the Camps together for some training exercises) we made the mistake of meeting up at our moderately sized house. We were being too distracting for Annabeth to get any work done, Piper couldn't focus with Leo around, Frank was trying to get everybody to calm down which somehow made it even worse and I tried to sneak away while everybody was busy and steal a cookie from Hazel's bag. It was a mess. Well, it looks like we learned our lesson because we got a bigger house. Full of expensive things. Why did Piper think this was a good idea?

"They're here!" I recognized Frank's voice and when I looked over the side of the chariot I could see him standing on the lawn waving his arms

"Why are you waving your arms like that? We already landed?" Nixon yelled back, hopping over the side and into the grass. Apollo was humming something by Beach Boys as we got off, not minding at all that he'd totally scorched most of the lawn. As soon as we had all gotten out he threw me a mock salute and was off, screaming into the wind like a maniac. Frank greeted us at the door, squishing me into a bear hug. Not literally, don't worry. He gave everybody a hug and gave Nico a respectful handshake (I think Frank is still scared of him.) before leading us inside to see the others.

"I don't know how long Piper's dad will be gone but we've got the place until then. Piper says if you break anything not only will you buy it, you will fight the fates themselves until they send you back in time so you can fix it,"

Annabeth gave me a pointed look so I'd remember. Hey, I don't _try_ to break things! I just happen to be around when something happens!

"Bro." Jason appeared in the entryway with open arms.

"Bro!" I repeated, giving him a hug. I knew Annabeth was rolling her eyes and somewhere in the house, Piper probably was too.

"You're here!" Piper pushed between Jason and I to greet the others. Really feeling the love, Pipes. Jason clapped me on the back.

"So man, how's life? I haven't heard from you since you called about the Avengers," he said. Oh yeah, that! I punched him in the arm. "Ow! What was that for?!" he yelped, rubbing his arm.

I glared at him. "Leo? Really? Out of anybody you could have sent to be my lawyer, you choose _Leo_!"

"I take offense to that!" Leo shouted.

Jason smiled sheepishly. "Pipes and I were busy and everybody else was too far away. Hey, at least I did _something_ ," he excused. I rolled my eyes but let it slide. Hazel came over to me and hugged me around the waist.

"What took you so long?" She asked. Really. Is she serious right now?

"We live in New York, how'd you expect us to get here any quicker?" I pointed out. She rolled her eyes.

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe you could have had Hermes zap you over like Piper suggested, because she totally didn't ask him to or anything,"

Oh. I guess I should have paid better attention to Piper's Iris message… People should know better than to try and tell me important information in the mornings.

"Ok!" Piper got everybody's attention. "Let's get to work. We want to make a plan as quickly as we can," she began shelling out orders. I didn't pay much attention because I knew Annabeth would tell me what to do when Piper was done.

 _(I feel like crap, sorry for bad chapter. Thank you all and comment what you'd like to see next 3 I'll try to include it if I live that long XD)_


	21. Leo stole my snacks

I was right.

"Percy, you are going over possible enemies with Leo, Jason, and Nico." She kissed me on the cheek and pushed me towards Jason. Jason, in turn, took me by the wrist and dragged me towards another room.

"Nico, you and me will go through all of SHIELD's old case files and see if we can find anything with the ability to keep a person alive for this long. Percy, you go to the pictures and see if anything stands out. And Leo…" he trailed off, unable to come up with a suitable job for Leo.

"Leo, you have the most important job," I said. "You are in charge of sneaking past Will and the girls to the kitchen to get us snacks,"

Jason nodded in agreement and Nico didn't say anything so I assumed this was ok with them. Leo grinned and saluted before running off as stealthily as he could. Hint: he was not stealthy.

Jason and Nico were having an intelligent conversation in the corner and Leo was still on his mission, so I was bored. Very bored. I tried to help- I really did, but case files were really long and all the pictures looked the same. Everything "stood out," so I didn't know what was considered standing out in everything that stood out. Leo finally wandered back in. He was holding a near-empty bowl of Doritos and his hands were red with the crumbs.

"I'm back!" he yelled with his mouth full of food.

"Where're the snacks?" Jason asked, looking up from his work. Leo paused and slowly rubbed his hands on his pants.

"Well, I got hungry."

While Nico rolled his eyes I had to restrain myself from attacking Leo. I gave him one job. Food! How could he eat all my food! It was ok though. I knew Annabeth would be bringing me snacks soon.

"Yo, these guys look creepy though," Leo said, flipping through a random folder.

Jason furrowed his eyebrows, "Leo, they all look creepy. That's the point."

"Yeah but these guys are extra freaky! Plus, they're named after a Greek monster so that gives them extra creep-factor bonus points in my book." Leo casually tossed the file back onto the ground and picked up another one.

"Wait, what's named after a Greek monster?" Nico asked.

"I don't know! Man, I already put that down," Leo sighed dramatically. Nico glared dangerously at him and got up to get the file. I, of course, rolled my eyes and went back to looking through pictures. I didn't even know what James Buchanan Barnes looked like. What if I saw him in one of these files and just went right by it? I feel like Jason put me here just to do something with me.

"Hey Jason, come look at this," Nico called. Jason scrambled up and took the file from Nico's outstretched hand.

"HYDRA, huh? They've been around since Captain America's good old days, and both Steve _and_ Bucky have had run-ins with them…" Jason trailed off and exchanged a look with Nico. "I think we found them."

Wait, Leo was actually helpful? What kind of black magic is this! Nico ran from the room to go tell the others while Jason tore the box of pictures from my hands.

"Leo, Percy, we all have to find all the pictures we can with this sign." He held up a picture of a what looked to be a skull with snake tentacles. That's not what a Hydra looks like. I didn't start paying attention until I heard Annabeth's voice.

"Oh, it's perfect! I can't believe I didn't think of it before! They have the right resources, they've been around long enough, _and_ they have enough information!" she cried. "After his accident, they could have found Mr. Barnes and used something similar to what was used to keep Mr. Rogers alive! A synthetic replica of the icy environment could have been created and-,"

"Wise girl, English or Greek please?"

She rolled her eyes. "HYDRA could have purposely done something similar to what happened Steve to keep Mr. Barnes alive. I'm not sure what they'd be doing with him though…"

I could see the gears in her mind turning. "Somebody might want to call Steve and the rest of those SHIELD dudes," I said. "Annabeth's got us a lead."

 _(Hi! So so sorry I haven't updated in a couple day! I've been really sick and I thought that would mean I'd have more time to write but in actuality, I have been sleeping. Like, the entire day. I'm going to try and update as soon as I can but it looks like I'm headed back to the hospital tomorrow :/ Again, I am very very sorry and as soon as I get better I will be back to my daily updates! Until then, it'll be about every two days or so if not sooner. Thank you so much!)_


	22. HYDRA

Now that we had a lead, we were able to narrow our searches into everything there is to know about HYDRA. And by we, I mean everybody besides Leo and me, who were busy trying to throw Cheetos in each other's mouths. Even Nixon had joined us.

"Ok, try it while my eyes are closed," he said, closing his eyes and opening his mouth. Being the mature and responsible parent I am, I grabbed a handful of Cheetos and stuffed them in his face.

"Dad!" He shoved me over.

"BOYS!" Annabeth yelled. We both straightened up and looked at her as innocently as we could. I could tell she was going easy on us because Nixon was still upset about Alec. Apparently, that wasn't going to stop her from chewing _me_ out though. She pointed threateningly towards my chair and snapped, silently giving me a glare that told me to sit down and shut up. I did.

"Now, if you could sit still and listen for two seconds, we can tell you _again_ what we've learned."

I nodded innocently. Leo just smirked.

"Yup, sounds good. I am listening,"

She rolled her eyes at me. "HYDRA has a base near New York that we think may be a lead. It's close by so that they could be spying on the Avengers, so we think it may be the best to check them out first," Annabeth said. I was too distracted by the beautiful silver swirls in her eyes to pay much attention to what she was saying. Nixon elbowed me in the gut to get me to pay attention so we wouldn't get in trouble again.

"New York, HYDRA people. Got it," I gave Annabeth a thumbs up and she smacked me. Nixon laughed, holding his hand to his mouth to try to cover it. Rude.

"Ok let's go," Max said, grabbing a stack of papers and messily attempting to organize them.

"Go where?" I asked. "We just got here!"

Annabeth stared at me like you would a small misbehaving child. "Because we are going to the HYDRA base that is located in New York," she spoke like I was a toddler.

"Whatever. I'm ready when you." I stomped confidently towards the door, then realized I had no idea where I was going. I decided to pretend like I did anyway.

"Percy come back here!" Piper yelled. She grabbed my by the cuff of my ear and dragged me back into the living room.

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow! Piiiipes!"

She, like usual, ignored me. "Hermes has agreed to zap us back to New York. From there, we'll get ready and everything then we'll go pay a visit to the HYDRA base in New York," she said. Oh, makes sense. After Piper finally let go of my ear, I walked over to Annabeth and took her hand. She rolled her eyes but leaned into me. Everybody gathered into a circle for Hermes to pick us up and I wrapped my other arm around Nixon's shoulders.

Piper closed her eyes and began murmuring under her breath, probably praying to Hermes and telling to get his godly butt down here.

"Close your eyes," she said, just as a bright light enclosed our group.

…

When I opened my eyes, we were home. Leo and Frank had landed on the couch and the rest of us had landed in the original circle in the living room.

"What in the Hades happened this time?"

I swung around to find the source of the voice standing in my kitchen with a bowl of Cheerios.

Masia was home.

"Mas!" I jumped over the couch and wrapped her in a hug. She laughed and squished past me to put her bowl of cereal on the counter.

"Hey Dad," she said. I smiled and hugged her tighter. My baby girl was finally home. Nixon and Annabeth joined us and we were in one big family hug.

"Where've you been? _How_ have you been?" I asked.

"I've been great Dad, _and_ I've been perfectly safe!"

I gave her a stern look and she punched me in the arm. See? My whole family is abusive!

"Masia," Nico said. She smiled again and gave him a hug. There is one thing Nico learned from Masia joining the Hunters. Masia came home, Bianca did not. I think it actually helped him in a way, the first time Masia came home. It's like he'd finally realized that not all hunters are gone forever. Some of the Hunters lived for thousands of years. It was weird to think that my daughter would stay 13 forever, but it was almost comforting to think that she'd outlive me. In a way. On the other hand, it was kinda freaky. I could imagine Masia, hundreds of years for now. Would she sound like Zoe did? Would she and Thalia grow to completely hate men like most of the other Hunters did? I doubted it. They were just too, I don't know. Thalia does like men a lot less than she did when I first met her though. But what about Masia? Would she be like that too? I shook my head to stop myself from thinking about it. I'd rather focus on the now, spending whatever time I had left with my family and the ones I cared about the most. Save all the deep sappy thoughts for when I'm on my deathbed.

 _(Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in the past couple days :/ I was sick and I just got a Nexplanon implant, so if that means anything, then thank I guess... From now on I will be updating every OTHER day, so thanks for reading! :) )_


	23. Preparation and goodbyes

While everybody else had been doing boring stuff like getting ready and making a plan, I talked to Masia and Nixon about how peanut butter Captain Crunch was the best kind. I wasn't sure exactly what we had to prepare for. My sword was ready, what else did I need?

"Percy, go find another sword. And make sure to get one of the mortal ones. I'm not sure there are even going to be any monsters and demigods where we're going," Hazel said, strapped a dagger to her thigh.

"So, where _are_ we going, exactly?" I asked sheepishly. I saw Annabeth roll her eyes from the other side of the room.

"Have you been listening to _nothing_ I've been saying for the past hour?!" She didn't phrase it like a question. Probably because she already knew the answer. Masia patted my shoulder for good luck, then her and Nixon ran off to talk about who knows what.

"Percy." Annabeth approached me with one of those serious looks on her face. I tried to sober up, but all I could think about was Captain Crunch. "We could get killed. Pay attention."

Notice how she said, " _we_ could get killed," not, " _You_ could get killed," I paid attention after that. I didn't like having my family in danger. Even though Annabeth wasn't going, it was still a punch in the gut that the others could get hurt too.

"Ok, what are we doing?"

Annabeth nodded in approval and dragged me to the dining room table. The coffee mugs and newspaper had been replaced with weapons and blueprints. What would the police think if they walked in on this? _Oh, just some random people and a pregnant woman with blueprints for infiltrating top secret facilities and weapons? Totally cool. And they've got kids with them? Even better?_

Yeah, I'm not sure how much of this the mist would actually cover up, especially since we're using mortal weapons.

"What if somebody sees us?" I asked. "We aren't using demigod weapons. Plus, we aren't exactly a low-profile group."

Hazel raised her hand and pointed at herself. "I've got that. Nobody will see anything unless they're really looking, and powerful," she said. Oh yeah, I forgot Hazel could control the mist.

"Now, the plan," Frank urged. Annabeth nodded and pointed at some seemingly random place on the blueprint.

"Right. Ok so their main entrance is right here, but they have two other entrances and two maintenance tunnels of some sort." She pointed some more, then looked back to us as if we'd understand what her plan was.

"So, we're taking the tunnels?" I guessed. Annabeth, for the millionth time, rolled her beautiful gray eyes.

"No. Obviously, you're taking the main entrance."

Oh. Obviously. I didn't see what about that was obvious but Frank and Jason nodded in understanding.

"Come on Seaweed brain! The tunnels will most likely be guarded with non-human security like cameras and motion detectors,"

Still don't get it. Why did Annabeth assume that would make me understand? I needed things spelled out for me, plain and clear.

Jason seemed to get this and said, "It's easier to take out human guards. Plus, battling the technology in the tunnels might lead to monsters tracking us. We've got enough to deal with as it is."

Ohhhhhh. "Thank you, _Jason_ ," I emphasized. Annabeth didn't even roll her eyes this time.

"So," I prodded, "what are we waiting for?"

Piper smacked me. "YOU! Moron,"

Oh. Like usual. "Well I don't know about you guys but I've been ready this whole time!"

Piper was about to smack me again, but my bro Jason stopped her. I was about to say thanks, but then _he_ smacked me! I should file a lawsuit against these people; they abuse me! A lot!

"Ok, then we're leaving in five. Be right here when it's time to go," Piper ordered. I don't know if she was charmspeaking or not, but I wanted to follow her instructions. Piper is a lot scarier than she gets credit for. I sighed dramatically and went to Nixon's room to say goodbye to the kids and spend at least a couple more minutes catching up with Masia, I didn't know if I'd see her again but I'm _not_ letting them come on a quest like this. If I had it my way, they'd never go on quests. But they're demigods, and powerful ones at that. I didn't want the mortal world after them _as well_ as the Greek and Roman ones. They were born with enemies more powerful than most gods just because they were Annabeth's and my kids.

Masia and Nixon were standing shoulder to shoulder in the doorway.

"What?" I asked, already knowing they had a speech prepared.

"We want to go with you," Nixon started.

Masia nudged him. "We _are_ going on with you," she corrected.

"Yeah, not gunna happen kiddos." I crossed my arms and stuck my foot out so they'd no I'm serious. Nixon gave me a look that said it wasn't working.

"What? Why?!" Masia asked, her eyebrows furrowing. She was a persistent kid, I knew it was going to take all five minutes before I had to go to convince her. And Nixon? Well, Nix was a sneaky kid. He'll probably pretend to agree then find his way to come with us without us knowing.

"Because I said so," I said, pulling my parent-logic card. I used to hate when my mom used " _Because I said so_ ," as an excuse. But now that I was a parent? It was kind of funny to see the fury on my kids' faces when I said that because they never had a proper answer for it. Mwahaha evil parent lawyer.

"But that's not even a real reason!" Nixon protested.

"So?" I crossed my arms. Masia was slowly turning red, making this oh so much more interesting. If you're wondering if this is what all parents are like, yes. Yes, it is. Every parent has evil inner monolog whether they'll admit it or not. "Masia, Nixon. You are _not_ going on this quest mission thing. I forbid it. Your mother forbids it as well. She's staying behind and going to keep a strict eye on you two, so behave." I kissed the tops of both their heads and pulled them in for a hug. I never left them without saying I love you because I never knew if it would be my last time seeing them. "I love you two very much,"

 _(Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading and I really hope you enjoyed it! As usual, please comment what you'd like to see next and I will try to include it in later chapters._ _ **Also, to the person who was asking about the age of Percabeth: They had Masia when they were 19, and Nixon when they were 24. Currently, they're 39. Masia is 19 now, and Nixon is 15.**_ _)_


	24. Just A Mortal Problem

Ok, when Annabeth told me to bring a mortal sword, I thought she meant we'd be fighting a mortal enemy. Like, humans. Maybe some robots with laser eyes. But as I quickly learned, this was not just a "mortal" problem.

I ducked quickly under water to catch my breath but I could hear the others still fighting above me. They were all on land but, of course, I was alone in the sea to fight the monster up close and personal.

The HYDRA base itself wasn't very heavily guarded. It was located on a small island off the bay of New York so we could only get to it by boat. No problem to me, right? No. Not at all. But what _was_ a problem was the thing in the water. HYDRA's _real_ security.

Now the Kraken was an evil dude. He had no mercy, especially for the son of the Sea god. Apparently, since Poseidon was in charge of the seas, he was _supposed_ to be in charge of the dude we were currently fighting. The Kraken had a problem with authority. Relatable. Well, that's what I heard between hits and sword jabs, but I may have misheard him.

"Percy! Left!" Hazel yelled. She was on land, summoning mist so the kraken wouldn't be able to see where their attacks were coming from. Piper and Jason were in the air, Jason holding her as she tried to lull the monster to sleep. I think the monster may have been deaf because he didn't react, and Piper had some powerful voodoo. I ducked to the left, deciding that I should probably follow Hazel's instructions before I was smacked into oblivion.

I jumped out of the way just before he could get to me. Well, I say he but I guess I don't really know what gender the Kraken was. I mean, he said "he" while talking about himself in the third person (It was annoying!) so I guess it was a guy but like I said earlier, I could have misheard him.

An arrow suddenly flew from Frank's quiver, lodging itself right between the Kraken's eyes. Poor dude. He wailed and tried to remove the arrow, but he didn't have opposable thumbs and couldn't get a good grip on the long narrow stick. He kind of reminded me of those t-rex t-shirts that have the t-rex trying to do something but he can't because his arms are too short.

I'm getting distracted again. Probably not a good thing while in the middle of a fight. While I'm fighting, I'll tell you what the dude looked like. He had tentacles like an octopus, but he also had two thick stumpy arms protruding from his sides. Fins like you'd find on some kind of prehistoric evil dolphin fish were found on his arms and sides, and he had three on his head (like some kind of creepy mohawk.)

His skin was a weird pale greenish color. Would have been cooler if it was blue. He had long sharp hooked claws on his stumpy little arms and on the end of each tentacle. His eyes reminded me of the horror movies Piper sometimes makes me watch; they were red. Not really a dark red and not really a light red, but just red. Monster demon eye red.

I would keep describing the Kraken, but I should probably get back to fighting him instead.

"Come on Frank! Keep shooting the big dude!" I yelled. I was half under water when I was yelling at him so he probably didn't hear me. I don't think he needed me to tell him to do anything; he kept shooting anyway. The Kraken wailed each time he got hit but I don't think he was in pain, just annoyed. We always annoyed monsters but we never really seemed to do any significant damage until the end of the fight, after we had almost died a couple times. Probably what was going to happen this time too.

But how do we even fight the Kraken? Like, _the_ Kraken. Anything I did with my powers was basically worthless because I couldn't really fight the Kraken with water. He's already a water monster, I'll just bug him! (I tend to be good at that too.) I wish I had Annabeth here, but I also am glad she wasn't. I wish I had Annabeth in an Iris Message or something so I could get her help but not actually put her in danger. Masia's wicked bow skills would be helpful with Frank too, and I wouldn't be mad if Nixon was here to give us his smarts. But still, I would prefer this over that. I didn't like putting the Seven in danger, but my kids? Nah that was way over the line. Nixon hasn't even graduated high school yet, why would I ever purposely let him fight the Kraken at a secret bad guy government base? I'm not _that_ stupid.

Dam, I'm getting off track again.

I didn't even notice the Seven's yelling until after I'd already been smacked across the stomach with one of the hooked tentacles. It stung, and the hook scratched along my rib cage, tossing me to the side and back into the water. I whacked my head on a rock on the way down, causing yet another stinging pain. Why couldn't the Kraken have done something a bit more peaceful when he reformed? Like a baker. The Kraken would have made a nice baker.

I probably would have just taken a nap or something, but I still had the rest of the Seven back up on the surface. I had to keep fighting so they wouldn't get hurt. It sounds as if I have no faith in them, but I really do. I just don't like leaving people I care about without me fighting the monster. I trust them, but that doesn't mean I would ever want to leave them alone to fight a famous Greek monster that was last killed by a famous Greek hero. (Who ironically was also named Perseus. Yeah, remember that guy? He was totally named after me. I don't care if that doesn't make sense.)

As I landed on the sea floor, sand burst up gently around me, blissfully unaware of the chaos around us. I was about to kick back up to the surface, but then I noticed something. Under the water, the Kraken didn't have much for defenses. His tentacles were a deadly force, but only if he knew I was there. He thought he'd taken care of me, so if I worked quickly, I'd be able to do some damage. Or I'd get stabbed in the face by a ancient monster octopus.

Before I could change my mind, I willed the water to thrust me forwards, straight to the underbelly of the beast. I raised my sword above my head and held tight, hoping the celestial bronze blade would be sharp enough to penetrate the monsters hide.

I finally made contact with the Kraken, and I thought it wasn't going to work. The skin stretched. It was disgusting. Ew. It stretched for just a moment, then a loud scream of monsterly anguish could be heard as Riptide finally broke through the Kraken's skin and into it's stomach. Or well, at least I hope it was the stomach. Now that I think about it, I think I may have stabbed a more _sensitive_ area. Whoops. Now actually kinda feel bad for the guy

The Kraken didn't immediately explode into dust like most monsters do. He wailed and screamed as he fell backwards into the ocean, sending a title wave towards land. I had to use the last bit of my strength to keep the wave from devouring my friends.

"Percy!" Jason ran into the water, not caring for the consequences, and dragged me back towards the land.

"Are you ok?" Hazel asked, crouching beside me. Five worried faces peered down at me. I waved them off.

"Nah, guys I'm fine! Really! I'm perfectly fine…."

Then I passed out.

 _(Hi! What do you guys want to see next in this story?) :)_


	25. Not my blonde

When I woke up, I expected to see angry blonde curls. No such luck. Just Frank. In his defence, he _did_ look worried.

"Percy! Thank Jupiter you're ok!" he said once he saw my eyes open.

"That stuck up momma's boy had nothing to do with me," I muttered.

Frank sighed and nodded towards the others. "Yeah, he's ok." Piper smacked me lightly on the cheek.

"Ow! What was that for?" I whined. Piper helped me to my feet and nodded towards the building.

"We aren't done. We've still got to get inside," she said, urging me forward. I sighed and shook my head, sending water flying in all directions. "Are you ok to fight?" she asked. I nodded and rubbed my sore head. I wanted a nap.

"Yeah, what are we up against?" I said groggily. This is where Piper smiled.

"It's us against whatever's inside that base." That didn't sound reassuring. "Plus, we've got backup," she added, moving out of the way to reveal Mr. USA and the rest of the independance squad. The serious look on Steve's face on told me that I probably wasn't going to make it to work tomorrow. Poor fish.

"Oh, hi guys!" I grinned. They didn't return the favor.

"Are you sure he's sane enough to fight?" Tony said.

Piper rolled her eyes. "He's more sane than you are," she said. Frank scoffed and did a bad job trying to hide it.

"Yeah, I'm ready to fight. What about you?" I taunted with a smile. Tony rolled his eyes and put his mask on. I missed Annabeth. And Nixon. And Masia. And Mirra. And my mom. And Grover. You know? I just miss everybody. This island was ugly and dark and sad and it made me miss my family. As soon as I get this over with, I can get back to them.

"What's the plan?" Hazel asked, stopping me before I could stomp in guns ablaze. Or well, sword ablaze.

"Go in, shoot stuff, get out," Clint said, notching an arrow. That's a stupid plan, I don't even know _how_ to shoot an arrow! It took me a moment to realize what he'd actually met, then I nodded in agreement.

"No, Annabeth made a plan already. Once we get in, alarms are likely to go off. After that, we've got limited time so we're going to have to split up. We don't know exactly what we're looking for so grab anything that looks interesting and important, and try to destroy their systems." Jason said.

"Right," I added on, my mind getting back on track. "Tony you go with Nico and Will. Thor, join Leo and Natasha, Hazel. Banner, Piper and Jason. Captain, join Frank and me," I ordered. I wanted Bruce Banner and Piper to go together so she could calm him down if he hulked out at the wrong time or if we had trouble getting the good doctor back. Natasha could control Leo and Tony, but I added Hazel so she wouldn't lose her mind in the process. I decided that Nico and Steve should be in different groups because they both had a hint of an idea of what to look for.

Tony looked like he was about to say some kind of sarcastic comment, but one glare from me shut him up. "Tony, the time for joking ends the second we step foot in that base. Lives are in danger.'

Jason rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you're the best person to give that advice, Percy?"

I shrugged and pointed towards Tony, "But my jokes don't usually get people killed."

"Usually?" Natasha prodded with a raised eyebrow.

"Apparently Kronos isn't a fan of corny jokes. Not my best moment. Anyway! We're cutting it close on time. Let's get in there and get out as soon as possible."

(PLZ tell me what you guys want to happen next!)


	26. An Old Friend

Frank, Steve, and I headed north. We headed through the maintenance tunnels which were, no surprise, disgusting. I made a bubble of water around us to keep the stink off, which was tiring but completely worth it.

"The alarms haven't been set off yet so try to be stealthy," I warned.

Frank scoffed. "Perce, the last time you tried to be stealthy you had a nosebleed that nearly ended the world."

Before I could summon a sarcastic response, alarms started blaring.

"SORRY!" Came Leo's voice from somewhere in the building. I rolled my eyes.

"Run! Head to the nearest door and get inside, all parts of this building are about to go into lockdown!" Frank ordered. We bolted towards a heavy metal door at the end of the hall and slammed ourselves inside just before it locked into place.

"Where are we?" Steve asked. The first thing I noticed about the room was that it was cold. It looked like one of those giant walk in freezers, but there was only one thing in the room. It looked like a large clear coffin. There wasn't anything inside.

"Ok, that's not creepy." I noticed that my voice lowered to a whisper. Mist from the cold swirled around the room, making it even creepier.

"Let's keep going," Frank suggested. I liked that idea. There was as smaller door on the other side of the room. The door wasn't wired with electronic locks like the other doors, it was an old fashioned barricade. It seemed less like they wanted people getting in, and more like they wanted to keep something in.

"We have to go in there," Steve said. I raised my mortal sword and nodded. The weapon felt uneven in my hands and I felt the heavy burden of riptide in my pocket, wishing I could use it instead.

"How do we get in?" I asked. Frank shrugged, then his eyes widened with an idea.

"Dammit, I hate the elephant," I muttered. I took Steve by the arm and pulled him back to give Frank some room. Frank, in turn, cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders before turning into an elephant. The trumpeting sound that followed must have confused any of the guards that were listening. Frank bent his head and ran into the barricade. It gave out almost too easily.

On the other side were, like I said, a lot of very suprised armed people who were obviously bad people. As soon as we entered the room, they raised their weapons and fired without even stopping to ask who we were.

Steve, luckily for me and the now-human-Frank, jumped in front of us with his shield, saving us from the downpour of bullets.

"Release the weapon!" One of the men shooting at us yelled. All three of us peaked over the edge of the shield to try and see whatever weapon they were releasing upon us.

It wasn't a weapon, it was a person. I person with long shaggy hair, dark circles of pain under his eyes, and a metal arm. Steve couldn't seem to catch his breath so I pulled him away from the approaching man.

"Bucky?" Steve muttered.

" _That's_ Bucky?!" Frank whisper-yelled.

"You failed to mention that he would try to kill us!" I added. Steve ignored us and stood up. "Captain fricken America what the Hades are you doing?" I tried to pull him down but the captain is a strong guy.

"Bucky!" He didn't bother picking up his shield. Bucky, or whatever he was, hesitated. I thought that maybe Steve hadn't just gotten himself killed.

The Winter Soldier raised his gun and fired.

(Yo, what do you guys want to see next? I've heard a suggestion for Reyna so she'll be popping up in a bit, but what else do you guys want? I JUST WANT TO PLEASE YOU! Lol thanks for reading!)


	27. Meeting James Buchanan Barnes

I didn't even have time to react. Before Steve could get killed by the bullet from his old friend's gun, a wall of shadows came between them. I braced myself for the blast of darkness that knocked Steve and the guards off of their feet. Bucky, the Winter Soldier, raised himself from the ground and lifted his gun.

"JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES," Nico yelled.

The gun dropped from Bucky's hands, then he looked down at it as if he didn't understand why.

Nico let his sword dissolve into the shadows and raised one hand towards Bucky and the other behind him in a protective stance.

"Hey Buck, how you doin?" Nico asked. He sounded like he was talking to a mentally unstable child.

"Who are you?" Bucky growled, but he didn't pick his gun up.

"My name is Nico di Angelo. When I was a little kid, you helped my sister and I, you took us in."

"Who are you," The soldier repeated.

"I'm Nico, you know me."

"Who are you!" He seemed to be getting angrier.

"Nico!"

"Who are you!"

"Bianca is dead!"

The room went silent. I felt a pang of guilt in my chest and saw sadness in Steve's eyes. And for the first time, Bucky showed a hint of emotion from behind his mask. I took that as a good sign.

"Bianca died, Steve saved the world, and I got married."

Bucky's face twisted, contorting in recognition and pain and confusion. I was almost sure it wasn't going to work again and crouched, ready to pounce and drag Nico out of harm's way.

"Married? Punk you haven't graduate high school yet," Bucky said, then he fell to the ground, gripping his head and screaming.

"Bucky!" Steve jumped up and ran towards him and Nico, who was trying to calm Bucky down.

"Get the others, we've got to get out of here," I said. Frank nodded and pulled out his phone to call the others. We brought the phones along so we could get in contact; secret villain bases aren't exactly prime rainbow-making environments. "Tell them to meet us at the house!"

Steve and Nico took Buck under the arms and carried him out. Tony looked confused, so I grabbed him and tugged him towards the exit. The first door was easy to get through, as Frank the elephant had plowed through it earlier. As soon as the cold hit us, Bucky started screaming again.

"We have to get through here quickly, anybody got any ideas?" I asked. Nico held out his arm for us to grab onto.

"I do. Will, don't say anything. I'll be fine, and we'll all die if we don't get out of here."

Will didn't look like the liked the idea but the only protest he showed was a gentle frown. He took Nico's hand and we all grouped into a tight circle, Bucky still balanced in Nico and Steve's arms.

The soul-sucking feeling of shadow travel took me over and I felt myself lifting from the floor as we shifted into the shadows.

(Hey guys! I really really need suggestions! I have 2 more chapters already written and I'd like to keep writing this, so do you have any ideas? Just any random thing you'd like to see, and I can try to work with that. Thanks!)


	28. Home again

We ended up in my back yard, thankfully not in China. On the other hand, we landed in Masia's garden again.

"Dad!" Two familiar voices shouted from the kitchen. I heard the sliding glass door open and my kids ran at me. I was already on my knees so I opened my arms and let them tackle me in a hug.

"Hey dorks, how it going?"

"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth muttered, standing over us. I pulled myself out of the dog-pile of Jacksons and wrapped an arm around my wife's waist.

"Hi, Wise Girl." I kissed her in greeting and rubbed her swollen belly. Then I remembered that there were more people than just us in the world, and turned back towards the others to help Steve get Bucky inside. Will had his arm around Nico's waist to help him walk.

"I've heard from the others. Jason got hit in the leg but it's not too bad. They're on their way back now," Annabeth said. My bro got hit! I felt anger swell in my chest. Nobody hurts my family. "He's fine. Told me to tell you not to kill anybody." Annabeth set her hand on my chest to calm me down.

"WILL!" Came a shout from the front of the house. Will and I exchanged a glance and we took off towards Hazel's shouting. Nico sat on the loveseat and took deep breaths while Bucky was laid across the couch. A rush of people stormed through the front door with Jason between them. Piper shoved everything off the kitchen table and they set him there.

"Dude, you're cleaning this mess up," I joked. Jason gave me a pained smile and swatted at me. Will got to work immediately. He shouted out for supplies which the rest of us quickly supplied him with (pun intended) and Piper shoved a square of ambrosia down Jason's throat.

"Leo, grab me some more towels, and I'm going to need bandages in a minute." WIll worked quickly. None of us spoke while he was working, so the only sound was Jason's quick breaths. Natasha watched over him with a look of interest, as if she'd never seen somebody pull out a bullet like this.

"What tool is that?" she finally asked. Will paused for a moment to lift his gloved hands and show off the steady streams of light extending from his fingertips.

"Apollo," was his simple answer.

"Um, what?" Tony Stark stepped up. I cringed, having forgotten that they don't yet know about the gods.

"We call it the power of Apollo, because," I couldn't think of anything.

"Because Apollo is what the Greeks called their god of healing, and that's what Will's power is; healing," Annabeth quickly answered. Dam she's good.

Finally, Will got the bullet out and dropped it into a glass on the counter. He moved on to Nico, who was groaning on the loveseat.

"Check Bucky, I'm fine. Really, Will," Nico insisted. Will sighed and moved onto his husband's old friend. Bucky was unconscious on the couch. Steve was beside him trying, and failing, to wake him up. Will pressed both hands to Bucky's chest and closed his eyes. I set my hand on his shoulder so he could use some of my energy. Apparently Apollo kids can suck the energy out of other living things, which we discovered on accident during Capture the Flag a few years back. It wasn't deadly, but if he wanted to and was powerful enough, Will could knock me unconsciousness with his touch. And he could only do it with powerful entities. So when he took my energy, his healing powers grew.

Bucky woke with a start, his eyes dangerously blood-shot and his teeth bared. He started thrashing around as if trying to escape, then made a break for the door.

"Bucky, wait! It's ok, you're safe here!" Steve insisted. Bucky stopped at the door and turned around hesitantly. This is when he noticed Steve and Nico. Confusion struck his features and he glanced to the door.

"It's ok, calm down. Come back inside and sit down," Piper soothed. Bucky listened to her, not that he had a choice, and sat down on the couch. "Do you know who you are?" Piper asked. Bucky nodded, then shook his head. "Your name is James Buchanan Barnes. Remember your past." Bucky squeezed his eyes shut and began to emit a distressed squealing sound. Steve scooted closer but didn't touch him. "Remember who you used to be. You're Bucky, Bucky Barnes."

Piper's voice nearly convinced _me_ that my name was Bucky, so I had no doubt that it was working for Bucky. Finally, he went quiet. He groaned and lifted his head, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Steve?" his voice was hoarse and just above a whisper. Steve grinned and set a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Long time no see, Bucky."

(AU: It's been awhile... Sorry! I got distracted writing another fic I've been working on (It's called Saving the Seven and you should totally read it #shameless self-promotion) so I'm almost out of ideas for this story but willing to continue it anyway. What would you like to see next because I really have no idea... so if I like your suggestion it'll probably end up in the story. Thanks! :)


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